The Book Called Revenge
by LifesADarkArt
Summary: Working in the new department for the destruction of harmful books, she's cursed by one. 'Revenge.' Trapped, she's invisible, mute and unable to touch. Her release in Malfoy's hands. Her funeral planned, she's got to convince him she's worth having around
1. The Plot

**So here's something new. I'm trying to get back into writing with original ideas and what not. your support would be greatly appreciated.**

**As for outer house. i will get back to it after all. Hope you all enjoy the new story, i've got some fun things in store as always.

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**The Book Called Revenge **

**Chapter one  
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In the first month, it was reported in the Daily Prophet, and Ron had gone on a rampage, questioning every Ministry higher up he could reach and not giving anyone a chance to interfere with the way he was doing things.

The second month, Harry had talked Ron into settling down and had put his best team of Aurors together to get to the bottom of this. When it looked like no one at the Ministry could pinpoint what Hermione had been last working on, he'd had to start from scratch. He also got special permission from the Ministry to perform otherwise illegal searches.

When the third month came around, the Ministry could no longer indulge Harry or Ron's mourning, even if they were the saviors of the wizarding world. Work needed to be done and business conducted. After all, a missing persons case could only go on so long…

On the fourth month, Ginny had talked Harry and Ron into believing that Hermione must have had something important to do that she couldn't tell them about; that she would come back when she was able.

During the fifth month, Hermione's name no longer graced the front page of the Daily Prophet and Harry, Ginny and Ron had gone to Hermione' parents to break the news.

Finally, as the sixth month of Hermione's disappearance continued unsolved, her name was nowhere to be seen in the Prophet and Harry's special force was back to cleaning up the wizarding world. Ron was in America preparing for the World Cup on the home teams field and her parents were barely making it through the days.

Hermione stood over Harry's shoulder as he wrote to Ron about having a proper funeral and Hermione knew that all hope of her being found and set free of this curse she was under, had suddenly become impossible.

She wanted to scream at Harry to just turn around. To tell him that she was right here, he just couldn't see her. But she had no voice.

She reached out a hand but it went right through his shoulder, just as it had been doing the past hundred times. She screamed a silent scream. She didn't want to go to her own funeral! Especially because she wasn't dead. In fact, if she could just manage to get hit by a car, she would probably be better off, but she couldn't touch anything. She just walked through walls and if she jump from buildings, she'd float gracefully to the ground.

It was horrible.

What kind of monster would create such a curse. It was so inescapable, and worse yet was that it wasn't meant for her in the first place.

It had happened right after she'd finally gotten the okay to create a new branch at the Ministry, The Study and Destruction of Harmful Restricted Books Department. She'd had the idea a while back when thinking about Tom Riddle's diary. It was a dangerous book to say the least and when she started working at the ministry, she found out that there were books even more dangerous than one that could use humans to do their bidding.

In fact, they had a whole library where they'd been stashing the books when they were confiscated from evil witches and wizards since the beginning of the Ministry itself. Some of them had been left there for future examination and others were just impossible to eliminate. One thing they all had in common was that they were dark, powerful and frighteningly forgotten.

So Hermione's proposal was to record the history of each book and how they worked, cracking their encoded spells and keeping a proper log of all the information. A lot of the books, though used improperly, had magic in them that was beyond their years or still impossible to fathom and that's why she wanted to understand them.

Some of those books could lead to good changes in the magical world. New possibilities.

So she set to work on the books, making sure to ward herself with charms and every protective spell she knew. As the only employee of a new department she wasn't technically supposed to be down in the library doing anything. It wasn't meant to be a one man job for obvious reasons, but she couldn't wait for them to transfer or hire a whole new staff. Fifty books into her log, she'd stumbled upon the one that had done this to her.

It had been late at night and she hadn't been able to go home without starting a new book. The book had writing on the front that spelled out Revenge and when she opened it, she read the first line of the book with quickened curiosity.

'For you, a humbling experience you shall not soon forget'

She was about to continue down the paragraph when she saw the messy scrawl of an ink quill start writing on the opposite page.

'I'm trapped, you must help me'

There was a pause and Hermione watched the book until it wrote again.

'The book says that you're the only one who can, and I know that you hate me, but please, I've been trapped like this for weeks with no way of reaching out until now. You're the only one who can see me.'

There was another lengthy pause. The book wasn't speaking to her she realized, it was more like a person writing this to someone who was answering aloud.

'The book stole away my voice and'

The ink stopped writing and Hermione waited again, but it didn't continue. She'd seen plenty of things in this library and this was mild mannered in comparison. She went back to reading the inside cover.

'the one least likely to profit from your existence will be your only hope of ever being seen again.'

There was a flash of light and Hermione dropped the book in shock.

When the light dissipated, she watched the book to make sure it wasn't about to grow legs and attack her. She'd had enough of that from the last one, but the book just sat still on the floor.

She bent and picked it up staring at the cover.

It must have done something.

She yawned realizing that she really needed to get home. This book could wait until morning. She made to grab her coat off the back of her chair and her hand slid right through it.

Her heart began to pound as she tried again with the same outcome.

"Oh my God," she whispered, except nothing came out. She moved her mouth again and still no sound.

She spent the next ten minutes screaming and trying to touch the stacks of books, but to no avail.

The only thing she could touch was the book that had done this to her.

Hermione came back to the present with tears burning at her eyes as Harry attached his letter to the leg of an owl and blew out his candles, heading to bed.

Hermione squeezed the book, Revenge, with both of her hands. It was the only thing that she could touch and she'd been carrying it around with her for these past months reading the words of the girl who had been cursed before her.

The girl begged and pleaded for her enemy to release her from the curse and although Hermione couldn't read the guy's responses, she knew what he was saying. Malcolm was the guys name and he was a heartless bastard from what Hermione could gather.

Hermione left through a wall of Harry's house and walked down the empty street. With the light of the full moon at her back, she reread the words of the creator of Revenge for the hundredth time.

'the one least likely to profit from your existence will be your only hope of ever being seen again.'

Hermione continued on.

'He will be the only one who is able to read these pages and learn the truth to your freedom.'

Fine, Hermione thought. But who would benefit from her nonexistence? If she could just find that person, then they could read about how to break this stupid curse. Then the first thing she'd do would be to destroy this book.

No studying, no bettering the world or any of that crap, just fire for this bastard.

But back the point… who hated her?

It was a very short list, in fact it was only one person long. But really, how could he be holding a grudge for so long. With luck she'd explain what was going on and he'd help her straight away. She didn't know why she hadn't done it sooner…

But of course she did. She'd stood up on a podium and testified against his release after the war. She'd looked him in the eye and told a room full of people who could condemn him to life in Azkaban, that being under age should have been no excuse for his lack of morality.

She was part of the reason that, although he hadn't gone to Azkaban, he'd had almost all of his family fortune stripped away, including the house that had been in his family since the beginning of the Malfoy's.

She cringed when she thought of how the day came when the Ministry had decided that sending in Aurors to go through the large home and undo all the wards, curses, jinxes and confiscate all the other dark objects, had seemed like a waste of their time and money. Hermione had been front row and center to watch Harry and his team burn the place down.

She remembered seeing Malfoy there, unable to stop them and unable to save any artifacts because he was under suspicion at the time.

Hermione put her hand to her mouth as she felt bile rise up. After the war, she'd been so bitter and angry. She'd wanted everyone to suffer for their crimes. It didn't matter that he was young or that he hadn't chose the wrong side in the end, all that mattered was that he had taken part. And when they were going to let him go, she'd seen to it that she did her part to have him punished.

After the house was gone, the prophet reported that he'd taken his still quite handsome fortune and disappeared.

She felt like a monster.

She'd waited this long to go to him because she knew what would happen, knew that if he knew her situation, he'd turn a blind eye.

But that was ten years ago. Could time have made him even more bitter? She was going to soon find out.

If she could find him...

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**As always, if you see mistakes, plz let me know and i enjoy honest feedback so do share your comments. R&R**


	2. Meetings

**Let me know what you think of Draco after this Chapter please. If you're like, 'WTF, I don't get this?' let me know what you have questions about and I'll fix things. I'm big on continuity and pacing, so if you think something doesn't make sense then drop me a line.  
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The Book Called Revenge **

**Chapter two**

Hermione, had she been able to touch anything, would have needed to go no further than the filing room for past suspected Death Eaters to find Draco. They kept tabs on those who were suspect of treachery and it would be an all-out manhunt if Draco had run off without notifying the Ministry first. Too bad for Hermione, the chances that someone would coincidentally check up on the one person she was looking for, so she could read over their shoulder, were slim to none.

In fact, if it hadn't been for the planning of her up and coming funeral, she had no idea how she'd have found Draco's hideout. But as luck would have it, going to her funeral was the talk of the community and it seemed that no one wanted to look insensitive by missing it. Including high class purebloods whose reputations were on the line.

One high class, purebred woman in particular had been her saving grace for finding out about Draco's whereabouts. One miss Pansy Parkinson.

She and Ginny had been close for quite some time seeing as how they had plenty in common, but the bad blood between Hermione and Pansy was too thick to be set aside.

Again, that had been Hermione's doing. Pansy had honestly tried getting to know her and make things comfortable, but Hermione being the bitter old hag she was, couldn't forgive and forget, even if Pansy's family had never really been part of the war. Hermione hadn't wanted anything to do with a girl who'd thought of Draco as a god.

It was proof enough of how skewed Parkinson's perceptions had been and evidence to Hermione that, even if Pansy hadn't backed a side, if she'd had to, you could guess where her loyalties lied.

That aside, Hermione could almost kiss the woman when she'd joined the Weasleys in planning and had privately stepped away with Ginny to ask if it were okay that she be accompanied by Blaise and Draco.

Hermione's heart jumped for joy and for the first time in her life, Ginny's care for Hermione's feelings, scared her to death.

Ginny stood there contemplating and Hermione stood beside her with bated breath.

"Maybe," Pansy started, "I shouldn't have asked. I know that this is about her memory and I understand if you don't want some people there whom she'd didn't really like." Pansy sighed.

"No," Ginny said sighing as well, "Blaise is fine, Draco on the other hand, I'm not so sure."

Hermione watched Ginny struggle and felt tears coming to her eyes. Why had she had to be so damned hate filled?

"To be honest," Ginny continued, "In my opinion, anyone who wants to come and mourn should be able to. At this point most of the wizarding world will be attending as it is. But Harry and Ron may not appreciate seeing Draco there."

Pansy nodded her understanding.

"I was hoping to get Draco back into town." Pansy's smile was solemn as she spoke quietly, "He's become a hell of a man and if Hermione is looking down on us, I'd really hope that she could see him there and forgive him."

Hermione was taken aback, as was Ginny as she spoke.

"He's still holding on to that?" Ginny shook her head, "Hermione was very…Hurt after the war. Some of the things that she did and said…" Ginny trailed off.

"I know," Pansy smiled in understanding.

"I," Ginny hesitated, "I think that Hermione was really the one to owe him an apology…"

Hermione looked at Ginny and knew that she was right. She'd known that for plenty of years to be fair. She really wished that she'd done it earlier.

Pansy shrugged.

"Hermione had a lot of right to feel the way that she did," Pansy said, "True, a lot of things weren't his fault, but plenty of things were. Even before all the things that went on during those last horrible years at Hogwarts, he… and I…" she added thinking about it, "we did some pretty awful things to her."

Ginny closed her eyes and took a deep breath, like she was trying not to let herself cry.

"I wish she would have at least given you a chance. She was always so stubborn and I hate to think that she took all that animosity to her grave with her…" Ginny's throat tightened up on her and she had to take a moment to clear it. "Tell Malfoy to come."

Hermione watched Pansy's face light up. "I'll try. He's been avoiding me and Blaise like the plague for years, and he hasn't even written to his mother since he left, but I want to convince him that this could be good for him. Maybe get him to let go of some of the past." She placed a hand on Ginny's back, "Thank you for letting me be a bit selfish when it's completely unacceptable."

Ginny smiled. "You're always like this so don't go trying to sound sorry about it now."

The two of them embraced and Hermione realized with a twist in her stomach, how close the two really were. She'd never put much stock in their friendship, mostly because she'd made a point of not being around when Pansy was and Ginny never talked about her with Hermione.

God, she was such a horrible friend.

When Pansy started to bid everyone goodnight, Hermione refocused on her goal.

Pansy went over to the fire place and Hermione followed, riding the floo with her from the Burrow.

They arrived in Pansy's foyer.

Hermione had to sit through a lengthy letter but finally Pansy's elegant scrawl inked out Draco's address on the heavy parchment envelope.

Hermione quickly committed the words to memory before Pansy wax sealed the thing and owled it out.

Draco Malfoy

Surry England, Pattington road, the house in the middle of nowhere?

Hermione frowned. This wasn't a help at all. She couldn't even apparate near there. She had no idea where it was. She silently yelled, jumping around and throwing a tantrum of huge proportion.

She was so busy acting like a five year old that she almost missed Pansy get up and grumble under her breath.

She bent and wrote a quick note.

Blaise.

Just wrote a letter to Draco and realized how futile that was. Going to get him and drag his sorry ass back here for the funeral. I'll be back in time for our lunch date tomorrow, but this may take all night, so do forgive me if I'm a bit worse for wear when I see you.

Pansy

Jumping for joy, Hermione couldn't believe her luck as Pansy reentered the fireplace and within moments they were in a large and beautiful log cabin styled home, walking out of a large brick fireplace. The furniture was plush and manly and the walls were decorated with bold framed, expensive looking art.

"Draco!" Pansy called as she walked through the house impatiently.

Hermione followed her through a large doorway leading into a surprisingly shiny stainless steel kitchen. Very strange…

As Pansy headed through another doorway and up a flight of stairs Hermione pulled her eyes away from the modern kitchen and focused on the span of the second floor. More dark red wood, an open door down the hall revealed a hot tub if she wasn't mistaken, a study with the door also ajar and the three other rooms which hid their contents behind heavy wood.

Pansy walked up to one and threw the door open to reveal a large four poster bed covered in black down. The bed was a mess, as was the desk in the corner and the large walk-in closet on the other side of the room. There was dirty laundry on the floor and a plate with what Hermione hoped was today's lunch, left half finished on the side table.

"That slob," Pansy remarked in disgust as she left the room. She inspected the other two doors; a guest room and what seemed to be storage space judging from all the unmarked brown boxes.

When it seemed like Pansy was settled with excepting his absence, she left a note on the kitchen counter letting him know that she'd dropped by, and then left the house through the floo network once more.

Hermione stood in the massive space taking it all in. He was still rich alright. She wondered when he'd be back and what she was going to say to him.

She found a back door and walked through the glass, surprised to find that they were in the middle of a forest. She took a step further outside on the expansive wooden porch, and looked around at the tall trees. Malfoy, living alone in the solitude of a forest?

Who'd have guessed?

The light from the sun was fading behind the trees as night fall came fast.

She stepped back into the house, putting together a string of words and explanations as potential conversation starters while she awaited Draco's return.

It was all pointless fodder for something that couldn't really be put into proper words. Especially because she was mute.

In fact she didn't even understand how the girl before her was able to have a quill and ink in the first place.

This was too much, all she really wanted was to lay down in a big fluffy blanket and lake a long nap. She hadn't been getting much sleep lately what with nothing but the choice between pavement and more pavement being as comfortable as she could get.

She missed the feel of beds and blankets and pillows…

The things you take for granted when they're so mundane to you.

She looked at the lovely white fur carpet on the floor in front of the fire place and collapsed on it. As she guessed, the fur lined her body but beneath her all she felt was hard wood.

As her eyes became heavy she decided that the illusion was as good as it was going to get. With a long silent yawn, she fell asleep.

* * *

Draco appeared with a pop in front of his home. Taking out his key and opening the door, he smiled recalling his day at work.

Today at the job site, Mrs. Claretta had come down from the office to motivate the team. With her appealing grey suit clinging to her curves and her hair uncharacteristically down since she wasn't behind her desks, she was more of a distraction than motivation.

Draco entered the house, putting his key on the hook and tossing his jacket in the closet near the door, as he headed for the kitchen.

They were building a second addition onto an already exaggerated home. Their boss, Mrs. Claretta was a laid back woman as long as her carpenters where doing what needed to be done, and because they were ahead of schedule, she had come down to hang out with her staff.

Draco reached for a glass out of the cabinet and went to the fridge, filling it with water.

As he under stood, if not for her lack of muscles, she'd have been out there in the heat alongside them. As it were, she was just too damn good looking to be lifting anything, so her mind for business and her knowledge of the job was where her stronghold was at.

Draco smiled, leaning against the counter.

She was quite open with her staff, and the news of her impending divorce had been all anyone could think of lately. Soon she'd be just _Miss_ Claretta, but Draco being the kind of guy that he was, wasn't wasting time on silly titles. As far as he was concerned, she was already back on the market whether it was in writing or not.

And he wanted her. The employee and boss relationship had always been a thin line with her and he was going to make it a whole lot thinner.

He set the cup down on the sink and as he was leaving the kitchen he noticed the note on the island.

Pansy had been here, and thank god that he'd missed it.

He didn't know how long it was going to take her to understand that he wasn't going back. Living with muggles was so much… easier. Living where people didn't know him was easier. His life was easier. And he'd had enough of the hard life.

He crumpled up the paper and headed upstairs.

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Hermione lied still on the ground just beyond the kitchens doorway. She'd heard him come in and froze up. What was she supposed to do now? She heard his door close upstairs and sighed. This wasn't going to get her anywhere and now as if things weren't going to be hard enough, she was going to freak him out by walking through the door of his room.

She got up, she had to just get this over with.

Heading up the stairs, she pumped herself full of reassurances. It would be easy, just get him to understand the situation and then find out how to get her out of it. POOF! Release and then she could go and put an end to her funeral planning.

As she stood in front of his door, it all seemed so plausible. She braced herself and took a step forward heading to the door at full speed before she could talk herself out of it.

There was a loud thud as her face collided with door, and she fell backward onto the floor. She rolled around on the ground holding her nose that she was sure she'd just broken.

As she rolled around screaming curses that never left her throat the door to Draco's room swung open and before she could register what was happening he was on top of her with his wand at her neck.

She looked up in shock as he wrenched her hands from her aching face. There was a strange moment of stunned recognition in his eyes before he pushed the wand harder to her throat with a frown.

"Who are you?" he demanded in a low voice.

Hermione shook her head in a don't shoot kind of way and moved her mouth frantically wishing the word would come out.

As Draco watched her, he seemed to have caught her lips wording Hermione Granger repeatedly. He shook her slightly.

"Talk," he yelled, "You can't be Hermione Granger because she went missing five months ago," he told her and Hermione shook her head mouthing.

'It's me, Hermione Granger.'

He looked down at her, examining her features for what seemed like forever, before he stood up and backed off, his wand still at the ready.

Hermione put her hand to her nose to make sure it was still intact and not seeing any blood she got to her feet with a little effort.

He stood there watching her movements as if he wasn't sure she were really there.

"Talk," he said again, his guard still up.

Hermione shook her head pointing to her mouth and throat, willing him to understand.

"You lost your voice?" he asked skeptically and Hermione nodded.

She felt a wave of dizziness hit her and fell back against the railing of the second floor. She looked at the railing with surprise then, at him.

He took a weary step back from her and her body slipped through the bars.

Before she fell to the first floor Draco's caught her and pulled her back over the railing with surprising ease, before again stepping away. Standing closest to the railing now, he ran a hand across it's smooth surface.

"What's going on?" he asked calmly and Hermione commended his control, she on the other hand was freaking out.

She could touch things!

And he could see her… well, of course he could. It was just that after being invisible for half a year it was a shock. Even though Revenge had told her that he'd be the only one who could see her, in the back of her mind, she'd had this fear that she'd get here and he wouldn't be the one and she'd never find who she was looking for.

It wasn't much of a consolation, but even if it was Draco Malfoy, being seen was a wonderful feeling.

And touching things, God, she could cry. She felt the wall behind her and had to hold back tears. She smiled as her fingers grazed the panels and she felt hysteria bubble up inside of her. She started laughing, jumping up and down a little while running her hands against the walls.

She took a few steps down the hall trailing her hand after her and suddenly fell halfway into a room as the walls gave way again. Or maybe it was her mass giving way. Either way she stood up watching as her body again passed through solid objects.

What was this, just a momentary thing?

Suddenly she remembered that Draco was in the hall with her and froze taking some calming breaths.

When she turned to him, he was just standing there staring at her with a confused frown. A blush rose to her cheeks as she came back toward him feeling sheepish. There was complete silence as she refused to look up at him as he watched her, waiting for answers.

When his patience had been tried enough, he stepped past her into his room and stood in the doorway as he addressed her.

"I just realized that, whatever the bloody hell this is, I don't want to know," he said shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. "Get out of my house and don't get me evolved," he said seriously, before closing his door in her face.

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Draco pulled his black shirt over his head, letting it litter the floor and headed for his bathroom. Starting up the shower, he decided that he was going to consider this whole encounter as some whacked out dream.

Curiosity killed the cat and he wasn't about to follow it's lead. He'd never seen a human move through objects like that. His first thought was that she was a ghost, but he'd just been touching her, and then when she slipped through the bars of the railing his instincts had kicked in and he'd caught her. Sure enough, she was solid, and so was the railing…

It wasn't hard to guess that she was under some powerful magic and he was sure that she'd done something to deserve it.

The question was, why was she in his house? And how had she found him? And wasn't she supposed to be missing?

Okay, there were a lot of questions, but it didn't concern him and he wasn't going to get dragged back into anything having to do with the wizarding world.

He was getting ready to remove his jeans when her felt a hand catch onto his forearm.

He spun around to see Hermione with a pleading look on her face.

"I told you to get out of here," he muttered stepping past her and out of the bathroom. He didn't want to be too close, everything about this was unnerving. Mostly the lack of her annoying voice.

She followed him shaking her head.

"If you don't get out, I'll throw you out. This…," he said waving his hands at her, "has nothing to do with me."

Hermione shook her head again as if to tell him that he was wrong. She held up a leather bound book and presented it to him.

He wasn't touching that thing. He wasn't going to have anything to do with this.

He kept telling himself that even as he reached for the book and took it from her hands.

Hermione watched as Draco read through the first page, where the Creator had scrawled his directions. Hermione's heart jumped as he looked up at her. This was it, Revenge told him how to break the curse. She was going to be free.

"It's Blank," he said facing the book toward her.

* * *

Hermione stood looking at the page that was indeed blank. She snatched away the book from him and stared down at the page feeling tears burn at her eyes.

This book was impossible!

She screamed wishing that the sound of her anguish could at least reach her own ears. She tried to rip the book but it was solid . She fell to the floor unable to hold her own weight up.

She knew that Draco was watching her, and for a moment she wished that she were invisible again. What was the point? Why would the book tell her to find him and then do nothing.

Hermione opened the book again inspecting it's inner cover once more. She blinked feeling confused. There were a new set of rules written in a list.

'You must help him understand your curse. If he does not agree to help you then he cannot see the script.'

Hermione growled. What a dirty book. How was she supposed to explain without a voice?

The book began to scribble on the opposite page. It was a drawing of a quill and Hermione watched the quill solidify and rise from the page.

"What's going on?" Draco asked again seeming impatient, watching Hermione pick up the quill with a sigh. Now she understood what was going on with the girl before her.

She looked up at him and then at the book reading the second line of the new regulations.

'When he agrees to read the book with full knowledge of its doings, only then will the secret to your release be revealed.'

Hermione ran a hand through her hair, as she read the last new line.

'Then the decision falls in his hands.'

Hermione watched as writing started up on the opposite page again.

'It wants me to tell you what happened.'

Hermione looked up at Draco and gritted her teeth, copying the girls words.

She stood up and handed the book to him. He ran his eyes over the writing than looked at her with an eyebrow cocked.

"It?" he asked.

'The book.' Hermione wrote.

"I'm going to regret listening to you aren't I?" he asked and Hermione shrugged as he handed the book back to her.

'I hope not. But I need your help.'

"Why should I help you?" he asked with an incline of his head thrusting the book back at her.

She took the book and stared at the page for what seemed like forever.

* * *

Draco watched her try and figure out what she could possibly write that would make him care. From the moment he saw her, he should have thrown her out. Years had made him a kinder person, made his past seem farther away, but it hadn't made him forget.

Her hand slowly moved across the paper as she wrote and he could hardly wait to see what she would come up with.

'I don't know,'

He stared at the page as she looked away from him.

"That's the best you could do?" he asked with a bitter laugh.

She scribbled out frantically with a face on that Draco would describe as defeated. He felt bad for somewhat enjoying it.

'I know I was a horrible person and I recently found out that I still am. I really can't give you a good reason to help me but I guess I was just hoping beyond hope that maybe you became a better person than I have over the years.'

He read the words and didn't know what to say. He was sure that he became a better person than her, but he had nothing to prove, especially not to her.

"Get out," he said and she looked crest fallen. "Let me take a shower and then I'll let you tell me how you fucked yourself over like this.

Hermione's eyes widened in shock. She mouthed the word 'really' as if she couldn't believe it. Which was understandable, he couldn't believe it either.

"What?" he asked walking past her into his foggy bathroom, "do you want me to change my mind?"

Hermione ran for the door with a smile, putting a hand up to check if it was solid or not first, before looking dejected that her hand slid through it, and leaving the room.

He wanted to be angry with her for what she'd done, but time had changed him. Angry? No, a tad bit bitter…? Perhaps.

Not only that, but as he understood it, she was assumed dead with a funeral in the works. No one deserved that. It didn't mean that he wasn't going to enjoy having power over her, but he was going to do what he could to help her out as long as it didn't interfere with his life too much.

To be fair, he liked the way his life was now, and in a whacked out kind of way, it was thanks to her in part.

Without a doubt, he knew that he'd tuned out a better person in the muggle world than he would have if he'd stayed in the wizarding world.

As he stepped into the spray, he smiled. He was even thinking of having a long term relationship with a muggle woman he admired and could see as a potential life partner. That was amazing.

Hermione had done more for him in a backwards sort of way, than she knew.

Beside, how hard would helping her out be?

**Tell me what you think is going to happen if you have any ideas. I hope to make another awesome Draco. I'd like to here what you think of him if you'd please R&R. **


	3. The Secret To Release

**So chapter three... there were problems uploading so it's been sitting here for a week. now that it's up, I could really use the feedback.  
**

* * *

**The Book Called Revenge **

**Chapter Three  
**

Draco sat on his couch, after his shower and listened to Hermione's tale.

Scratch that…

He_ read_ her lengthy, fifteen page essay, detailing her predicament in a very sterile tone. It was written as if she weren't living a nightmare and this was all just a very long, very trying, inconvenience.

As he wrapped up the concluding paragraph, he looked up to see her laying on the fur carpet in front of the fireplace. Or more like she was laying _through_ the rug. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, and even when he closed the book and tossed it across the short distance to her, she didn't budge.

He leaned back into the cushions and sighed staring at nothing in the opposite direction, letting the silence drag itself out while he took in her predicament.

So she'd done him wrong and in a work of irony the likes he'd never seen, a book, her greatest treasure in life, was teaching her a lesson. Leaving her fate in his hands. He glanced over at her still unmoving and smiled. Though she sat there in a tranquil trance, he knew that she was probably raging with uncertainties underneath the façade.

He would love to hear what was really going on in her head and if she was anything like the girl he knew as kids, it wouldn't be too hard to find out.

The silence was comfortable and he almost didn't want to break it.

"So 'Revenge', he started as he faced her form on the ground, "is going to let me in on the secret now?" he asked and she faced him for the first time.

She nodded, then looked away.

"Before we get to that," he said and smiled at her flinch, "what do I get for saving your life?" he asked and she sat up abruptly, giving him a frown of disgust. She took a calming breath and picked up Revenge. The quill appeared in her hand and she began to scribble frantically. She paused and inspected her words as if she wasn't sure she wanted to let him read it. She looked up at him and then slid the book across the floor to him.

He picked it up and couldn't help but grin.

'I guess I'd be indebted and at this point beggars can't be choosers, so I suppose I'll give you anything that's within my power to give.'

He made a show of rubbing his chin in thought and he could see her anger boiling up.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, "I don't think you have anything that I want." He tossed the book back at her and Hermione shot him an accusatory look before picking up Revenge and scribbling again.

'ARE YOU SERIOUS?' she wrote and picked it up, holding it so that he could read it from afar. Draco shrugged.

"Revenge called it not me," he said while stretching, "I really don't benefit from your existence and I'm kind of wondering if anyone else does either." Her expression was priceless. "Maybe I'm doing the world a favor."

She stood up, gripping Revenge in one hand with the other balled into a fist around her quill. She stood there like that for some time before she turned away and started scribbling again. She tossed the book over her shoulder when she was done and he dodged it.

He picked it up and turned to the right page. As he read the words, he immediately regretted pushing her like that.

'You're probably right, I was amazingly self concerned and I suppose I'm continuing the trend by asking you for help after what I did. I was wrong and I've known that for a long time, but I was unconcerned with voicing it because I was pretty sure that I'd never see you again. So I forgot about you… thinking that you'd forget about me, which was selfish I guess, to assume that what I did was of no consequence. I'll leave you alone now. But despite how much I hate you right now, I want you to know that I am sincerely sorry about how I acted after the war.'

Draco watched her shoulders tremble as she stood facing away from him, and even without her making a sound, he knew that she was crying. He felt like an ass. What she'd done was horrible, true, but she didn't deserve to be trapped like this, watching her friends prepare to bury a body they couldn't find.

Even knowing all of this, he couldn't help but feel like she hadn't suffered enough by his hand. He'd never felt this way before. He was, in most cases, a pretty nice guy. He schooled his feelings into rational thought. He was being unbecomingly vindictive.

He stood up and walked around her until he stood before her. Her face was tear streaked and he stomped the triumphant feeling that rose up in him. He'd always thought he was over what had happened, but now he was having visions of her stern insistence at his trial that he be thrown in Azkaban when he was only seventeen. He could remember her standing before his burning home, which was her doing. Before she had intervened, the council had ruled him heir and owner to his rightful fortune, and sent him on his way with a slap on the wrist.

He'd planned to rid his manor of all dark possessions, to take down every portrait of his ancestry. Release every house elf. He was going to take care of his mom and help her to cope with the years of brain washing his father had put them through.

But then she showed up that day…

Draco shook the thoughts away as he realized that she was staring at his cold expression.

He pulled back his rationality and tried to cling to it. An hour ago, he'd been considering that what she had done had bettered his life… and it really, truly had. Only now, he was finding it hard to think it was reason enough to help her so easily.

He pushed the book into her hands and she startled back for a moment.

"We'll forget what happened back then," he started, bringing his voice down a notch as he continued, "you don't have my forgiveness and I don't want your apologies," he watched as she looked down at her feet. "I'll help you out of this because it's the right thing to do, and I don't want anything from you in return," he said taking the book back from her hands.

She looked shocked as he turned to the first page. He watched the book and nothing happened. Hermione was looking worried so he confirmed her fears.

"Nothing," he said. Hermione looked crestfallen and he was about to hand the book back when the scrawl began to flow over the page. He paused reading it as it wrote.

* * *

Hermione, able to see that something was happening, looked down at the book, but saw nothing. He continued to run his eyes across the page as if he was reading, but there was nothing there.

Hermione waved her hands in front of his face when he finally stopped reading and stared out into space with a frown. He snapped his head in her direction.

She motioned at the book and then spun her hand in a circle as if to ask 'well what did it say?'

"You can't read this?" he asked and Hermione looked down at the page shaking her head in the negative. When he just stood there looking her up and down, as if he were seeing her for the first time, she snatched the book from his hand and wrote.

'Did it tell you how to free me?'

She held the page up to his face and he examined her face for a moment before shaking his head, no. Hermione frowned.

'What did it say?'

He read her words and took a step back from her.

"It," he paused shaking his head at her, "It said that you have to stay a while before it will tell me."

Hermione looked confused. Then skeptical.

'I need to stay? Here?'

He nodded, before walking around her and into the kitchen. Hermione followed.

"I have work in the morning, so I need to go to bed," he said as he drank a glass of water and headed for the stairs.

Hermione watched him in stunned silence, before following him up the stairs. She wrote something down as she went and tried to show it to him but he ignored her as he entered his room and shut the door.

Hermione stood in the hallway unable to figure out what had just happened. Revenge had written more than what Draco was letting on.

She put a hand to the door and it was solid beneath her touch. She knocked on it and when he didn't answer, she knocked harder.

Nothing.

She rapped on the door feeling a wonderful sensation as her fist made hard contact with the wood and her hands began to hurt. She kept it up until she fell through the door.

So her moment of being tangible was over…

She stumbled into the room as Draco was lifting his shirt over his head. He looked at her, threw the shirt to floor with the rest of the trash, and ignored her presence as he got into bed and turned out the light.

"You can't sleep in here, so don't bother asking," he mumbled and Hermione couldn't believe him. She wasn't going to ask him that at all. Besides, what was the point? The floor in this room felt the same as the one downstairs.

She couldn't even get him to read what she was writing with the lights out. The good news was that she was able to touch him.

She walked over to him and pushed his chest. He turned over and she pushed his back. He pulled the cover over his shoulders and she pulled them off.

* * *

Draco was beginning to get upset.

"Look if you don't-" he started to say, but Hermione cut him off by repeatedly slapping his shoulder. He sat up and turned on the light to find her clutching his blanket for dear life. She tapped his shoulder again and he realized it was one of those 'to get your attention slaps,' so he focused on her as she pointed to the blanket and smiled like a kid in a candy store.

"Oh right," he recalled, "You haven't been able to touch blankets in a while…" he sighed reaching out for his cover, "That's very nice and all, but I'm trying to-"

She jumped back to stop him from taking away the comfort. Obviously she wasn't giving it up without a fight. He pulled at the side nearest him and she pulled back.

There was a short tug of war, which Draco noted was ridiculous, that ended as she took another step back and her form gave way, slipping through the cloth and sending her to the floor. He didn't bother to hold back a laugh as she fumed.

Then as if a light bulb had gone off inside of her head she stood up and walk up to the wall. She put a hand against it and it went through. She pulled it back out, took a step toward him and touched the wall again. Her hand connected with wood.

She looked up at him in shock. She walked up as close as she could get to him.

"What are you doing now?" he asked feeling exasperated.

She put up a finger to tell him to hold on, then she slowly took steps away from him with her hand sliding across the wall, until she took one too many and her hand went missing again. She pulled her hand back through the wall shaking her head and mouthing the word 'no' over and over.

"What," he asked becoming impatient.

She picked up Revenge from the ground where she'd fallen and wrote quickly before handing the book over to him.

'I can touch things within a certain radius of you.'

"That's wonderful," he started with a sigh, "but like I was saying-" he was again cut short as Hermione ran past him and jumped right into his bed. Put her face in the pillows and hugged them close.

In a moment of shock and disgust he jumped up from the bed moving backward and with a thud, her body hit the floor below.

"Oh, sorry," he said in shock. He hadn't meant for that to happen, but whatever it took to keep her out of his bed. He moved forward without thinking and it wasn't until she was crawling from beneath the bed that he realized he'd only made things worse.

Stifling a laugh, he took a few steps back and she got up, her body half infused with his bed.

He made his face serious before she looked up.

"I feel for you," he said moving toward her when finally her body was no longer inside of his mattress, "I really do," he continued sincerely, "but under no circumstance are you allowed in my bed," he finalized, and although she was obviously put out, she seemed to understand the boundaries she'd crossed as she nodded.

"I have work in the morning," he repeated, "We can talk then," he said and it seemed to create a finality in the conversation. She picked up Revenge and exited the room.

When she was fully gone he got back into bed, turned out the light and spent the rest of the night unable to sleep while he contemplated Revenge's conditions for her release. She didn't need to stay here. The book hadn't requested it. That was him buying time so he could figure out if he could go through with what it would take to free Hermione.

He needed to figure out if he was even capable of what it was asking.

He'd have thought that Revenge would have asked for something fairy tale-ish, like getting a man who despised you, to break your spell with a kiss. Something innocent and pure. After her story he'd kind of pegged the book as a means of getting her to realize that she wasn't in control, but it was asking her to relinquish all sense of honor and pride.

It wanted her to literally sleep with her enemy.

Worse yet, was that it wasn't going to tell her and Draco was going to have to find some way to explain without sounding like _he_ was the sick one trying to belittle her.

He'd just seen her today for the first time in ten years and under some pretty odd circumstances. Telling her that the book wanted him to sleep with her could easily be chucked up to him trying to humiliate her.

Draco closed his eyes and thought of what this book was trying to do. Give him a chance at getting his own revenge… or something akin to that notion.

It was probably the most disgusting thing to do to someone, trap them like this and then tell them that their release relied on his release.

That was vulgar and just about the only way he could describe it. Revenge had been pretty explicitly descriptive about how far the encounter had to go. Whoever made this book was a sick bastard. Hermione mentioned that she suspected the book only worked on females since she was seeing the writing of the girl before her, who also wrote of reading another woman's writing in the book.

He wondered how many people had been captured in it, and how many of them were freed.

It had to be a good number right, because if the girls hadn't been freed, then Revenge wouldn't have been found repeatedly right? Besides, what guy didn't want to get his revenge in the most mortifying way possible. They probably took advantage of them. Unless the girl refused to do it, grew old as an invisible woman, died and the book would reappear. He didn't want to get into the possibilities.

The point was that he wasn't a monster and he couldn't leave her stuck like this, but also couldn't do what needed to be done.

It was five hours later when he fell asleep and disturbingly enough, he dreamed of her excitedly jumping into his bed like she had a few hours ago, and of himself going through with Revenge's plan.

It wasn't a pleasant dream at all.

* * *

Hermione was down stairs tossing and turning on the hardwood floor of the living room. She had already gotten her allotted two hours of sleep. Her body wouldn't let her relax any longer than that. She knew that if she was on that very plush couch across from her, she'd have went out like a light. Too bad the only way, she'd get to nap on that couch was it Draco was willing to sit nearby and wait it out while she slumbered.

Slim chance.

He was a good guy, she knew, and she really couldn't ask for any more than he was already giving her. As much as she hated that she wasn't upstairs in bed with him right now, she understood his reasoning. This curse was making her do crazy things, like jumping into bed with him. She was surprised that he hadn't turned her away for that alone. He was doing more for her than she may have done for him in a role reversal.

After all of this was over, she was going to find a way to thank him.

For now though, she was more concerned with her exhaustion. With the way things were going, she wasn't even sure how she functioned through the day without collapsing. She closed her eyes and tried to dream.

It was no use. Which she guessed was okay, since the sun was already up and Draco was probably going to be getting up for work soon. She wondered what kind of work he did. From what she understood, he was never spotted in the wizarding world anymore, so she had to assume that he worked with muggles.

It seemed so improbable, but his house was obviously void of magic. He had no spells or safety wards up, and the overall design of the house gave it away. The kitchen alone was a testament to lofty muggle life styles, but the large T.V.'s she'd spotted in several rooms of the house were the icing on the cake.

Draco Malfoy was living like a muggle.

Hermione decided that she wanted to see what he did for a living. Probably worked in an office. He was smart, so she could see him filing papers and taking important calls as phone went off around him and there was hustle and bustle everywhere. She smiled realizing that she was picturing the muggle version of the ministry.

She sat up and couldn't sit still any longer. She started for the stairs and headed for Draco's room. It was seven in the morning. It seemed like normal hours for someone to get up. She walked through the door and saw that he was still sound asleep. The blankets were tangled up around his body and he looked a bit worse for wear as he shifted back and forth.

She went over to him and called out his name, forgetting that she was mute. She stood over him for a second watching his frowning face. She wanted to shake him awake but didn't know if it was okay. He looked like he could use the wake up call, but she was trying not to do anything that would overstep those delicate boundaries he had put into place.

Touching him wasn't one of them, but she felt like she shouldn't. She suspected that that had more to do with her own feelings than what he may think of it. How excited she was about being able to touch someone. She'd been restraining herself from touching him since their first encounter. She was trying to keep a hold of her mental instability but it was hard.

So long without human contact was bound to have some repercussions. It didn't matter that the situation called for her to keep a distance, she was dealing with serious trauma, and stopping herself from feeling up someone she hardly knew, and who didn't like her, was trying to her restraint.

Just touching walls, doors and blankets were sending her over the deep end. Feeling her hand make contact with his skin was truly satisfying, no matter how short lived.

He mumbled and she remembered that she was supposed to be making a choice.

She put her hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly before taking her hand away quickly. When it didn't work she shook one more time. This attempt more aggressive than the last.

He came awake with a jolt and she jumped back from surprise.

He was breathing hard as he stared up at her. He looked a little frightened, then there was a tinge of pink that rose to his cheeks before he turned away.

Hermione watched him in confusion as he ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head, then seemed to forget that she was standing there as he stared at the wall ahead, in deep thought.

She opened Revenge and the quill appeared in her hand.

'What's wrong?'

She held the book up in front of his eyes and he frowned, reading the words.

"Nothing," he answered defensively, pulling the blankets from his legs, "What are you doing in here?" he asked and Hermione recoiled at the tone. He was pissed off.

She jotted in the book as he stood from the bed and headed to his closet.

'Checking if you were up. You said you had work and it's about the time of morning that working people are heading out of the door.'

She held it up to him and he spared a look over his shoulder then turned away pulling a shirt from a hanger.

"Well I'm up now. You can go," he said stiffly and Hermione stood there for a second before she scribbled in Revenge, feeling him getting to her. He didn't have to snap at her.

When she was done, she stormed over to him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around with a scowl.

"I told you-" he started and she cupped her hand over his moth in frustration. It was so hard to be heard when you didn't have a voice. With her hand still in place, she held up the book.

'Thank you for what you're doing for me, but I won't sit here and let you treat me like crap because you have leverage over me. I don't know what pissed you off, or if you're just not a morning person, but whatever happened, I had nothing to do with it! So as selfish as this may sound, please don't make my life any harder than it has been for these past few months. I know that you're a great person because you agreed to help even though I can't do anything more than apologize for what I've done in the past. So I understand if you want to hate me for something I did, or something I do. You have the right to, but no misdirected rage. You'll agree that things suck enough for me I'm sure.'

He read the lengthy paragraph and then looked into her eyes before sighing as he pulled her hand away gently.

"Sorry," he said and Hermione hid her glee. She'd written that out of anger and hadn't really expected him to agree. "I'll be down in a few," he said before turning back to his closet.

Hermione smiled and headed back to the living room.

* * *

Draco entered the kitchen a few minutes later and Hermione came in to join him. As he went through the fridge, she set Revenge on the table, open to a page with some numbered sentences.

She knocked on the counter to get his attention.

He sat at a bar stool with a cup of orange juiced and looked over the page.

'1. Where do you work and what do you do?'

He looked up at her and she waited for an answer.

"I'm a carpenter," he said and her jaw dropped, leaving him somewhat offended, "I work for a very small company who contracts for houses. Is that shocking?" he asked with an eyebrow raised. She nodded and he shrugged reading her next question to keep from looking at her utter shock.

'2. Do you think I could tag along today? I don't really want to be alone here.'

He thought that over. She was being pretty honest. If he had been under that curse he wouldn't want to be alone anymore either.

"I guess," he said casually sipping his drink and he held back a laugh when she made a little jump for joy. He read the last question.

'3. How long did Revenge say I had to be here before it tells you how to break the curse?'

He watched her anticipation and he looked away as he answered.

"It just said that you had to stay with me…" he answered with a shrug as he headed back to the fridge and pulled out some eggs. She didn't look satisfied with that answer, so he changed the subject before she questioned him again. "You want breakfast? You haven't eaten in a while right?"

Hermione's eyes lit up as she came to stand next to him to help with the eggs.

He sighed at his near escape. He wasn't ready to tell her just yet. For now, he'd try to make her as comfortable as his lifestyle would allow him. He wasn't going to go out of his way, and he was the kind of man who liked his own space, so there wouldn't be any conversations, but the least he could do was feed her.

After breakfast was done, she sat on the barstool next to him in such close proximity, it was hard for him to concentrate on eating.

Hermione's hair was up in an unruly mass of pins and berets. She was wearing a magenta, low cut silk blouse that was held up by thin delicate straps. There were ruffles in the front around the top hem and from what he could tell, she was braless. Her top was tucked into a grey pinstriped pencil skirt that stopped mid thigh. Her sheer stockings had a line running up the ankle, calf and thigh, disappearing under the skirt.

He assumed she'd been wearing a suit jacket but it was off during work when she was cursed.

He looked down at her red stilettos and he bet she wished, she'd have put on more practical shoes that day.

He hadn't paid much attention to any of that until last night when Revenge had told him about the sex he was supposed to have with her, and he'd given her his first onceover.

Aside from the fact that at the moment she was shoveling food in her mouth at an alarming pace, she was quite good looking. He'd somewhat imagined that after school, she'd have become a cat lady. When the Prophet had featured her picture for the first time in ten years, he'd been proven wrong, but hadn't really cared, as it was a passing thought.

Now he was looking at a girl he was going to bed with. Not to say that he was a total swine, but he felt a little better about the whole situation when at least she was attractive. She chose that moment to belch loudly. She covered her mouth looking embarrassed and he chuckled.

Attractive…

"Let's get going," he said taking her plate and his own to the sink and heading for the door.

She grabbed Revenge from the counter and headed out after him.

He didn't usually need to drive to work unless they needed supplies, but since he had a passenger today, he headed over to his black truck.

He got in after helping her up and trying not to make too wide of a berth around to the other side so she didn't fall through. It went without a hitch and he headed down the long dirt road that led to the highway. He felt strange as she stared at him. He knew she was probably stunned to see him driving.

"We're almost there," he said to fill the silence and it seemed that she'd realized she was rudely watching him, as she turned her head away and stared out of the window.

The ride felt like forever and he was already regretting letting her tag along. It was awkward and uncomfortable, the two of them acting like they were acquaintances. Trying to pretend like none of this was strange.

She opened Revenge and scribbled something, then held it up.

He took a few quick glances at it as he drove, and then laughed.

'Isn't this weird '

He liked the little smiling face she'd drawn next to it.

"I was just thinking the same thing," he said and she grinned.

The rest of the ride was peacefully calm.

**There you go. let me know what you think. R&R**


	4. ASAP

**Well here it is. Sorry for being forever. I didn't realize so many people wanted this updated. But for some reason I started getting requests for this between Outerhouse. So here you go. **

The Book Called Revenge

Chapter 4

Hermione had watched in amazement as they drove up to a humongous castle-like home and pulled up onto a long driveway. There were about six other trucks parked nearby and beyond them, she could see the framework of a new wing and about ten men moving around the structure.

Draco put the car in park and sighed.

"Well, this is the site we're working on," he motioned toward the home.

That had been five hours ago.

Now, Hermione's butt was sore; a not so great, beginning to a new chapter of her story. She rubbed the offending area and sighed. She was sitting in gravel watching as a dozen or so men worked. It was strange to see Draco here, looking for all of the world, like he actually belonged. As if a pure blooded Malfoy, could possibly have pulled off looking like a blue collar muggle. Yet, somehow he was managing.

Managing wasn't really the right word for it. No, he _really did_ belong amongst them. He laughed and joked with the other men, sporting smiles that she could never have imagined.

"Derrick," she heard Draco yell down to someone who was holding the latter he was perched on, "Hold it still, if I fall and break my neck I'll come back to haunt you, asshole."

The guy named Derrick gave the ladder a playful shake, "Always the same thing with your ghost stories Draco. That shit doesn't exist."

Hermione could see the knowing smile on Draco's lips and she found herself smiling too.

"Well let's not find out then alright?" Draco replied, and his friend laughed.

Hermione had to laugh, and although it was silent, when she looked up, Draco was watching her. He looked suddenly sullen, as if reminded of something he was reluctant to think about. Hermione looked away. It was kind of hurtful to have someone look at you that way. Like being reminded of your presence was the ultimate burden.

Not that Hermione had any right to complain. The fact that he'd decided to help at all was a blessing. She just wondered what was taking Revenge so long. Why wouldn't it just tell Draco how to set her free? At this rate, her memory would be six feet under by the time she got back to the wizarding world.

Besides the fact that Revenge was taking its sweet time torturing her, she was also sure that Draco was hiding something from her.

She was taken away from that thought before she could really dig into it, by the sound of a shrill whistle.

"Alright mates," a large man that Hermione assumed must be in charge called out to the rest of the workers, "Let's get a quick break in, before the next hour and we switch shifts."

Hermione watched as Draco climbed down the ladder and began to complain with some of the other guys that it was too hot out today. They all headed for a makeshift tarp gazebo that someone had erected.

Hermione lifted her head to the sky. It was quite clear, without a single trace of a cloud and the sun beating down on all of them with no barriers. Just as she was bringing her attention back to her people watching, Draco pulled his sweat drenched shirt over his head and began to approach her.

"Hey, Draco," Derrick called from behind him, "Where you going?"

"Just going to sit over here for a minute," he called back and his friend shot him a look as if to say that Draco was mad to sit out in this desert like heat.

Hermione didn't know what to make of him as he put his t-shirt under his butt and sat facing her.

"How are you holding up?" he asked her in a whisper and she was so shocked, that it took her a while to mouth the word 'fine' in response. He nodded at that and then let silence fall.

They were far away enough that none of the others would hear him and he'd sat facing his back to them so they wouldn't see him talking. Hermione just wasn't sure if he'd done it on purpose so that he could talk to her and keep her company, or if he was just sitting here because he felt sorry for her or something.

When he didn't say anything, she assumed it was the latter.

She picked up Revenge and wrote quickly before showing it to him.

'You don't have to sit with me. Thank you, but I'm fine alone.'

He studied the words for a moment before speaking in a whisper.

"It's no big deal," he said with a shrug, and Hermione wondered if he was really trying to be nice. It was totally different today, than what she'd expected from last night and this morning's events.

It was like he was trying to make things bearable for her. She felt herself blushing and knew that he could see it. For some reason, this was making her feel horrible. She'd been nothing but a monster to him, but he was actually being nice to her. He must have changed so much over the years.

It really made her see how much she hadn't changed at all.

'Thank you' she wrote and he shrugged again.

* * *

Draco was trying to work his way up to telling Hermione what Revenge had asked him to do, but it felt impossible. He could hardly think of anyone he'd hate having sex with more. And all through work, he'd pictured what the awkward act would be like with her.

Either them talking throughout or a terrible silence, neither wanting to take any pleasure out of it and afraid to show that they were. Which she would be, because he was a damned good lover, and that aside, it was sex between two good looking people; they were bound to enjoy it a little. He could just image her trying her best not to like it at all costs. And he would be obligated to do the same under the circumstances.

And it wasn't as if he could just make it be over in a few minutes.

No, it was going to be a very long and trying ordeal, if any of those previous thoughts were true. Especially if he was under pressure to get done quickly.

God, he felt like a pervert thinking about it like this. Not that he was even enjoying the thoughts mind you. It was all pretty revolting.

He just wished he could make her want it a little, or at least be okay with it at all. That would make his job a bit easier at least.

Still, he was going to have to let her know and get it done. The longer they waited the worse it would be. And her funeral was drawing nearer besides.

He opened his mouth to say it, to just come right out with it.

"About Revenge," he started and Hermione looked like she was bracing herself.

"Draco!" someone called from behind him and he turned around to see Mrs. Claretta trotting over, balanced carefully on her heels.

Draco stood up and greeted her with a nod.

"Hey, you checking up on us again?" he asked and she smiled with a shrug.

"You know I can't trust you slackers alone for too long."

He laughed at that, knowing that she trusted all of them completely. She only hired the best.

"So what are you doing over here sitting alone in this heat?" she asked and he shrugged casually.

"Just getting away from the noise," he answered and she nodded as if she could see the appeal, taking a quick glance at the rowdy men behind her.

Draco was very aware of Hermione watching him and although it wasn't the best time for this, he'd been planning on asking Mrs. Claretta out for quite some time. He wasn't about to let this whole Revenge thing get in the way of that.

"So," he started and put on his most charming smirk, "What are you doing tonight?" he asked and he heard Hermione make some sort of noise in the back of her throat. It sounded distinctly like she was making fun of him.

"Are you asking me out?" Mrs. Claretta asked with a smile. She didn't sound upset which he'd thought was going to be a high probability, seeing that she was his boss and all. So he took it as a sign that she was considering it.

"If that's what you want to call it," he said and fought sending a glare at Hermione when he heard her snort behind him. So what if it was cheesy, it had worked many times before and it would work again. It gave the ladies a choice of what they wanted the meeting to be deemed and made them feel comfortable.

"Well…" Mrs. Clarreta pondered over it for a moment before grinning, "Maybe we shouldn't call it that. After all, I'm your boss. But if you want to '_hang out_' tonight after you get off, I'd be more than happy to join you," she said and he spared a glance behind him to see Hermione looking beyond shocked.

He smirked at her before addressing Mrs. Claretta again.

"How about dinner then, my house?" he asked and she looked a little conflicted before agreeing. He admitted it was a little forward of him to invite her to his home, but why not put his intentions on the table.

He hated hinting and he hated playing cat and mouse. If she didn't like him she could turn him down and he'd get over it, but she had to know that he was interested first.

"What time should I arrive?" she asked as a blush rose to her face. He'd never seen her act bashful, but he liked it.

"Around seven?" he inquired to make sure that was good for her.

"Okay," she said and all of her shyness melted away, "see you tonight. Hope you know how to cook because I'm a picky eater." She waved goodbye and headed back to the other men.

When Draco turned around and reseated himself, Hermione was ready with Revenge in her hands and plenty for him to read.

'Really? Your boss? That's just wrong and I can't believe she fell for that "if that's what you want to call it" crap. You're really sly you know that?'

Draco held in a laugh, he didn't want to look crazy in case someone was watching.

"It's a gift really," he said seriously and she glared at him but soon she was silently laughing and shaking her head at him.

When she calmed down again she wrote in Revenge, often pausing in thought. So when she lifted the page some time later, he was surprised to see only a sentence.

'I'm really glad that you're who you are now and although I know that you won't forgive me and that you don't want me to say that I'm sorry for the past, or that I'm thankful for the present, I have to tell you that I am both of those things.'

He read it and didn't really know what to say. She shouldn't be thankful just yet.

"It's okay," he said because saying 'you're welcome' or 'I forgive you' were out of the question.

She smiled sadly, seeming to accept that for what it was and then wrote again in Revenge.

'So what were you saying before?'

Draco froze up for a moment remembering how he had been in the middle of being forthright with Hermione just moments ago. Now though, all of that bravado had disappeared.

"Right," he said because he'd been quiet for too long and the frown between her brows was deepening.

There was no nice way to put it, so he took a deep breath and pegged her with a penetrating stare that loosened her brow immediately. She was back to bracing herself.

A whistle went off from behind them and he stood up abruptly.

"We'll get back to this later," he said quickly before jogging off and back to work. He had about an hour to figure out what he was going to say to her, but without fail he had to tell her tonight.

* * *

Hermione was ready to burst with anger as she watched him retreat. What was he going to say? Was he going to tell her that he'd changed his mind? That he was tired of her after only one day?

She spent the next hour questioning the way his eyes had become suddenly serious and grave. Whatever he was going to tell her, it was bad news and as they got into his truck and pulled onto the highway, she had talked herself into not wanting to hear it.

She would just avoid the conversation of Revenge at all costs, just until it gave up the secret to how to set her free. As long as she stayed out of his way, he'd have no reason to send her packing.

At the moment it didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it either. They made it home in a tense silence and as soon as the truck was in park, she shot out of the door and into the house before he'd gotten the key out of the ignition.

"Hermione?" he called out as he came into the house, but she stayed where she was, seated through the living room carpet. She started to scribble frantically into Revenge and as he came into the room and flipped on the light, she got up and thrust the book in his hands.

'That must have been some hard work. You should hurry and get in the shower. You still need to start dinner before your boss gets here. So get going.'

He looked up at her in surprise and was just opening his mouth when she took the book away from him and started to push him out of the threshold and toward the stairs.

"Okay, okay," he said as he jogged halfway up the stairs before turning back to her one more time. She shooed him with her hands and he shrugged before going up the stairs and shutting himself away in his room.

Man, what was she doing? He probably thought she was crazy.

* * *

Draco stood in the shower trying to figure out why Hermione was losing her marbles. It was taking everything he had to come to her with the truth, and then she chased him away like she didn't want to hear it.

He had to do it though… as soon as he got back down stairs, he'd tell her.

* * *

Hermione was in the kitchen waiting for him to come down. She'd decided that this was all just crazy. She couldn't force him to help if he didn't want to and it was better to find out now than to waste her time with him. As he came down the stairs forty minutes later, fresh from the shower with a determined look in his eyes, she figured that he was on the same page.

He sat at the table and sighed.

"I guess you're ready to hear what I have to say then?" he asked her and she nodded. He took a deep breath before blurting the last thing she'd have expected. "There's no easy way to sugar coat this, so I won't. You have to have sex with me to break the spell," he said sternly and then kept his eyes on hers as if to prove that he wasn't joking.

All the wind seemed to have been knocked out of her, and she just stared right back at him. Neither of them wanted to be the first to look away, as if the first to do so would be acknowledging defeat somehow.

Hermione finally looked away. And she heard Draco sigh across from her as the silence stretched out once more. Hermione was trying to absorb the information but it was just knocking against her head, being refused entrance.

Her first thought was that he was lying, but why would he? She ruled it out immediately, and then was able to face the truth, that this was exactly the kind of thing that Revenge would ask for.

In her head, she'd been imagining a counter curse, but this, this made so much more sense. And just like that, it finally sunk in. Sex with Draco Malfoy…

'I see why it took you so long to tell me,' she wrote and showed it to him. He didn't say anything, and that was just as well, there was really nothing to say.

She looked up at him for the first time since the confession and he looked exactly like she knew she probably looked right now; disgusted.

She couldn't help but laugh. No, he was defiantly not lying. This wasn't going to be a picnic for him either.

"What's so funny?" he asked and she wished that he could have heard the bitterness in the laugh. She found all of this far from entertaining.

'The book's punishing you too from the look on your face.' She wrote and he gave a little harsh laugh of his own in understanding.

"Yes, well not that you're not attractive, but you're just not my type," he said and she actually smiled.

'Ditto.' She scribbled and he smiled too. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad. Sex wasn't the end of the world right? And it wasn't as if Draco was still the terrible prat that he used to be. They could be casual adults about this couldn't they?

'So you put it in and then you take it out. Presto Change-o right?'

His face turned grim and hers instantly mirrored his.

'Not so simple of course,' she wrote with a sigh and he sighed as well.

"Of course not," he said running a hand through his hair.

'So what, it gave you a time frame or something?' Hermione raised her eyebrows at the bitter chuckle he let out.

"It was a bit more descriptive than that, almost crude really," he answered and her stomach dropped in disgust.

'Do I want to hear the details?' she wrote reluctantly.

"No more than I'd want to say it aloud," he said and she sighed.

'So what do we do?'

"We do what it says I guess," he shrugged.

'When?' she wrote and he shrugged again.

"I guess that that's really up to you?" he told her and she felt herself blush.

'ASAP' she wrote and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Just itch'n to get my clothes off, eh?" he smiled and she actually, against all good sense, laughed.

'You know it.' she jotted and rolled her eyes when he smirked at her. 'I have a funeral to stop remember? You pig." she wrote and they both laughed for a second which was absurd, because none of this was funny.

"I suppose after my date tonight." Draco scratched his head, "My boss isn't the type for one night stands, so that leaves my schedule open."

They both took that in for a minute and let it settle between them. Tonight, Hermione would be freed of this curse.

The phone rang and Draco got up to answer it while Hermione tried not to think too hard about any of this. This was not having sex with Draco, it was breaking a dark spell. And when she thought of it that way it… who was she kidding, it didn't make any of this easier. She hadn't had sex in quite some time.

Quite some time rounded down to about two years if she remembered correctly. This wasn't something she took lightly, or did casually. But tonight, she'd have to do both.

At least Draco was easy on the eyes. Not that it made it better, but… it kind of did. Watching him out there on the work site today had been a feast for the eyes and she could hardly deny that. So she was going to think about the positives.

Getting rid of her dry spell with a good looking- and pretty honorable- guy was a positive. Being free was a positive. See? This was easy. Really, as she thought about it, there weren't any negatives at all.

Well beside the glaring fact that she was utterly bashful and awkward by nature when it came to sex and that she was bound to turn this into a circus act.

But another positive was that she had plenty of hours to prepare herself mentally for what was coming.

Draco retuned to the counter looking extremely put out.

"I've got good news and bad news," he said and Hermione, feeling loads better about her life, gave him a smile and listened intently.

"Bad news is that my 'hang out's' been canceled, but the good news is that ASAP is right now," he said with a shrug standing up and heading for the stairs.

Hermione just sat there in shock. No, it couldn't be now. She wasn't ready yet. What happened to her few hours?

"Well?" he asked impatiently from the bottom step. His date being cancelled was obviously bothering him.

Hermione reluctantly stood up and followed him into his room.

**Review it please and thank you.**


	5. Freedom

**Here you go. I'll try to keep on it. And to those of you who thought I was rushing... you may be right. but I'll try to slow down. And don't worry, the story wont be over so soon.**

****The Book Called Revenge

Chapter 5

He had only just closed the door behind her, and was already pulling his shirt over his head, then undoing his pants.

Hermione was beginning to hyperventilate. He needed to slow down. She put her hands on his arm to still him and then wrote in Revenge.

'Slow down, will you? It's been a long, long time for me and I'm going to be honest, I'm a little freaked out.'

"How long is a long, long time?" he inquired and he seemed sincere as he buttoned his pants back up and Hermione blushed uncontrollably.

'A little over two years.' she wrote sheepishly and he let out a low whistle.

"How could you go that long without it?" he asked and she shot a glare at him. He smiled, "I mean, I assume it was by choice because you're pretty sexy in your own weird way," he said thoughtfully as if this were a real riddle of sorts.

She ignored the back handed complement outside of the blush and wrote in Revenge.

'You'd be surprised…'

"So you're telling me that you didn't have anyone coming on to you for over two years and with the way you dress like the sexiest thing in the work place," he asked incredulously. Hermione sighed, again ignoring another strange compliment.

'No one stuck around long enough to get to the sex part' she replied. 'And I like to feel like a woman since no one is going to treat me like one, hence the garb,' she added. She loved looking like corporate sex on legs. She had the body for it, no longer awkward as she used to be. It made her stand taller not to just be the frumpy smart woman at work, but the sex pot too.

"I didn't think you were that horrible of a person, but to be able to run a man away from sex, well…" he said, and Hermione scowled.

'I'm awkward, okay? By the time the date is over, I've fallen all over myself so much that they can't wait to get away!' she admitted and he nodded his head as if he completely understood. It was true; the hard work on her appearance couldn't disguise the fact that she was still Granger-ish in many ways.

"Makes sense," he said simply and for some reason she wasn't upset with him for agreeing. "So you act like a complete idiot and you never get to the good stuff?"

'I guess,' she shrugged.

"Well good thing there's no preliminary here right?" he asked with a laugh and she sighed. He thought this was a joke.

'Jeez, not even going to try and romance me?' she asked solemnly and he smirked.

"Is that what you want?" he asked back and she shrugged, hardly able to deal with him any further.

It's not as if he was expected to treat her like some virginal little angel, and there was no point in getting all worked up or anything. All she really needed to do was lay there and take it, right? She could do that. She sighed and was about to start taking off her clothes when suddenly Draco was kissing her.

In her shock, she let him deepen the kiss. When he pulled away, he was smirking.

"Romancing you? Sure I can do that. Whatever will make this less awkward," he said with a laugh, "And besides, sex is an art and it'd be a shame to send you off with a quickie after two years of celibacy don't you think?

She made a face as if to express the scoff she couldn't sound, but then Draco went in for another kiss and Hermione didn't object.

* * *

This was going to make it easier he hoped. He'd get her relaxed and maybe the both of them could even try to really enjoy it. Lord knew that this woman needed to enjoy some sex after that long.

He was giving her the snogging of a lifetime, but she just stood there like a statue, so he broke the kiss and pegged her with a questioning look. When she stared back at him innocently he sighed.

"This is kind of a give and take thing you know?" he told her and her face heated up to a truly endearing shade of pink. She took a step back and started to write again.

'You're better off if I don't try,' she wrote and he smiled.

"It can't be that bad," he assured her, but she shook her head as if he had no idea. "Okay, then at least humor me will you?" he said and took a step toward her. She shrugged in compliance and as he leaned in to kiss her again, she met him half way.

She moved her mouth on his and his tongue met hers and all Draco was could think was: my god, is she a terrible kisser. She had no rhythm and no sensuality. It was clumsy, wet and just outright ridiculous that any woman as good looking as her could have made it to this age and not learned to snog properly.

He broke away a bit abruptly and from the look on her face, she already knew why, so he didn't bother being polite about it.

"Right," he started, "I see what you mean."

She gave him an 'I told you so' look and shrugged.

"So how did it get this bad?" he asked her and she took the quill to Revenge with messy quick strokes.

'Well, Ron was never the best at snogging and so early on I decided that I really didn't enjoy it too much. Of course Ginny kept telling me that I had to find the right guy to '_snog my socks off_' as she put it, but even after Ron and I split, I steered clear of it. I'm fine with just kissing.' She handed him the book and he scoffed.

Who on earth could be fine with _just kissing_?

"So I didn't just 'snog your socks off?'" he asked with a smirk and she rolled her eyes, snatching the book from him.

'The best kiss I've ever had, I'll admit, but I don't have much to compare to and my socks are still as they should be, sorry.'

He chuckled at that although it was a little wounding.

He ran a hand through his hair; he wasn't here to give her a 'make out 101' session, so he decided that he'd skip the kissing.

* * *

Hermione felt like she was doing a pretty good job at not acting as mortified as she really felt inside right now.

The kiss had been more than nice, but she froze up not knowing what to do with herself or how to reciprocate. Where should her hands go? How wide should her mouth be? Was she supposed to breathe out into his mouth, and how was she supposed to swallow her spit with his tongue down her throat?

It was all just too complicated and she always became overwhelmed. She was trying to be calm, she really was, but she must have become even more stiff in the following moments because Draco frowned.

"You really need to relax," he said and she could tell that he was trying not to be annoyed. "You're making me nervous now, too."

She couldn't even believe that he'd be nervous about a little sex. He read her skepticism and smiled.

"Believe me, this isn't easy for me," he said, "My partners are usually very willing and don't make me feel like I'm taking advantage of them," he said and Hermione turned away from him.

She wasn't meaning to come off like that.

"Let's try a different tactic, okay?" he asked and he came up behind her, flush against her back.

He pulled her shirt from her skirt and let his hand travel underneath. She jumped as he cupped her small breast and he could feel her heart beating rapidly against her chest.

When he pinched her nipple she sucked in a sharp breath and released it on a sigh.

She closed her eyes and tried not to think about anything, but instead she was thinking about everything!

"Relax," he said soothingly into her ear, and she wanted to ask him what he thought she was trying to do.

His other hand traveled downward and got a hand full of her butt and another sigh shakily escaped her. She would be the first to admit that this did feel nice, but it would be a lot nicer if her body wasn't seizing up.

* * *

Right, this was better, Draco thought. Seduction might get her to be at least willing, but the only problem was that he just was not turned on. Maybe it was something about her not being able to moan, but whatever it was, he was feeling really detached right now and none of this was going to work if he didn't get his body working right.

He pulled her silky shirt over her head. The sight of breasts were usually a sure fire way to get the ball rolling. So he turned her to face him, but even that didn't work. What was wrong with him?

He led her backward and pushed her back on the bed. In her heels, stockings and pencil skirt, she looked like a pin up model. For some reason even that wasn't enough.

He would normally would have liked it for a woman to keep the shoes and stockings on, but maybe he needed her completely naked.

He turned her onto her stomach and unzipped the back of her skirt revealing a lacey black thong and matching garter belt. It was a sight to behold as he dragged the skirt down her legs. When he got the thing over her heels, and she looked up at him with a blush on her cheeks, he finally felt a stirring in him. Maybe he'd get to keep the heels and stockings after all.

* * *

Hermione was beginning to have palpitations as he slid his finger up the line that traveled the back of her stockings and flattened his hand out when he reached her butt. He moved up her back and neck until he reached her hair. He undid the mass of brown locks and looked surprised to see that her hair was long enough to reach her lower back.

She had to remind herself to keep breathing. She felt too exposed and her skin was cold and goose-bumpy. She turned herself over because the way he watched her butt was unnerving.

What she was wearing beneath her clothes had always felt like a secret to be kept between her and her own body. Some may have asked why wear it if you don't want anyone to see, and it was simple really. She loved the way that it made her feel. Just for her and her alone.

Now though, she felt a little ashamed of herself. It was embarrassing to have someone see her in these overly sexual under things.

It was bad enough that she never got past first dates, and that her kissing skills were atrocious, but now, not by choice, she was going to have to show someone how truly grueling a task it was, to sleep with her too.

Ron had often remarked that it was sometimes a chore and thanks to him, she'd developed a complex. She'd tried to learn to do things right, but whenever she'd tried to take charge, he'd look disappointed with her and tell her what she was doing wrong.

And Hermione was not very good at taking criticism that was for sure.

This was horrible… Draco wasn't doing anything wrong, but at this rate, she was just going to crawl deeper and deeper inside of herself. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Her earlier thought of 'just lay there and take it' came back to her.

This was a humbling experience indeed, Revenge.

She literally scooted up onto the bed properly and assumed the position.

* * *

Draco sighed. Just as soon as the stirring had started, it was like she'd done her best to make sure that it stopped. She oozed insecurity. In fact, she was the word incarnate at the moment, and it was definitely a buzz kill.

He wasn't about to have sex with someone if it made him feel like he was a monster. Even if he'd _wanted_ to, there was no way he was going to get it up under these conditions. This was, if possible, worse than what he'd even imagined.

He sighed loudly running a hand through his hair in defeat.

"I can't do this," he conceded and Hermione looked torn between shocked and relieved. "This really isn't my problem and if you don't want to break this damn curse than I can't help you, but I'm not going to force myself on you," he added bluntly. He was feeling more than a little drained.

Hermione looked crestfallen, but she didn't make any moves to argue. Revenge was on the floor near the bed and Draco picked it up handing it to her before lying beside her on the bed. He rested with his hands under his head, facing the ceiling and closed his eyes. She stared at him, confused.

"When you're ready, then come at me," he told her and her eyes bulged from her head, "Until then, it's your funeral."

And he meant that quite literally. If she wasn't going to meet him half way then she wasn't going to be released. He wasn't about to go all out for her if she wasn't willing to at least try. This wasn't something he was getting off on and he didn't like her shirking her responsibilities on him like this.

* * *

Hermione got up from the bed and headed over to where he'd thrown her clothes, but surprise, surprise, when she made a grab for them her hand slid through.

How terribly humiliating. She was stuck like this until he got up and came close enough to her clothes for her put them back on. But he was right to be upset with the way she was acting. He was doing her favor after all.

She went back to the edge of the bed and sat down beside him, one arm crossed over her chest as the other wrote in Revenge. When she was done she set the book on his chest.

He opened his eyes and with an exasperated sigh he picked up the book.

'Okay, I have a problem,' he read and then laughed harshly.

"Yeah, I'll say," he told her, tossing the book back down, "You'd rather die than get shagged.

She took Revenge and wrote again, handing the book back to him when she was done.

'Can we just go slower?'

"How much slower can we possibly go?" he asked and she could see that he was trying not to be angry, "I'm not a fan of putting my life on hold like this," he told her honestly and she bowed her head in shame.

'I'm sorry I'm asking for so much, can you give me a day or two to work up to it?'

* * *

He read it and felt like a jerk for wanting to say no. He wanted to tell her that it was now or never, but whatever was going on with her, it went deeper than not being able to get laid in the past couple years and he could see now that if he wanted her compliance during the act, he was going to have to give her some breathing room.

"Fine," he said quickly before he could change his mind, "You have me for two days. That's it," he assured her sternly. He didn't have work tomorrow and if they were lucky, she'd be out by then.

She nodded but didn't seem happy.

"So to start out slow," he said to her and she didn't look at him as he spoke, "first, I'm going to teach you how to properly snog,' he said and her eyes shot to his in confusion.

'I don't think that's necessary,' she wrote and he chuckled.

"Believe me," he said seriously, "it is."

She half smiled as her cheeks tinged.

"And you'll sleep here with me in case you get any urges in the night," he told her and her eyes completely lit up at that idea. He added that one just to be nice, but he couldn't figure out why.

She seemed to have just realized that she'd been too preoccupied earlier to notice that she'd been in a bed for the first time in ages. As soon as that sank in, she smiled so amazingly bright that Draco was immediately glad he'd offered his bed.

Who knows, by the end of her two days, she might not have mustered up the courage to have sex with him, and then who knew when the next time she'd see a bed would be.

'Thank you' she wrote and he couldn't help himself as he answered her.

"You welcome."

She looked flabbergasted and he realized what he'd just said.

"But tonight, in exchange, we snog until your lips are sore," he added to cover his slip up. She smiled at him like she knew what he'd just tried to hide.

'You're losing out on both accounts,' she noted and he laughed at that one. He absolutely agreed. He'd been losing out ever since she showed up, and yet he still wasn't feeling apathetic somehow.

"Now come here," he said sitting up fully and she sat on the bed across from him. He didn't even try not to gawk at her breasts, and she did her best to ignore it.

She'd better get used to it, he thought. She needed to get comfortable.

"Try to mimic what I do, and don't worry if you don't get it at first. Just stay relaxed and let it happen on its own, okay?" he asked and she looked totally clueless. He smiled, but didn't try to clarify.

He leaned into her and she moved in as well. When their lips met he gave her a few soft pecks before letting his lips linger. He licked the seam of her lips and just like a studious Granger, she replicated his actions.

It was well done.

When he slanted his head, she slanted the opposite direction. He parted his lips and she did the same. He pushed his tongue just past her lips and she did the same again.

It was slow and steady and well-paced; almost sensual. As he pressed further, so did she and when he kissed a little deeper, she mimicked.

Before he knew what was happening his heart was pounding. Just from a kiss. Everything he did, she matched and although it was slow going, something about having the time to feel how soft and yielding her lips felt against his was amazing.

He'd always kissed hard and fast, but this, this was incredible.

Just as he was in the mind set to lay her down and see how far they could go, she pulled away.

Her face was red her eyes were hooded, as she panted trying to catch her breath.

'Was that okay?' she wrote and he didn't even know how to answer that. It was more than okay.

"Yeah," was all he said but she took it as a triumph, judging from her smile.

'Should we try again?' she asked and he nodded because he couldn't get the words out.

"Kiss me harder this time," he told her and she went as red as a tomato. He was aware that his voice had fallen a few octaves, but couldn't be bothered to care as he kissed her again.

She again met his moves and before he knew it, he was above her.

As soon as his hand touched her skin, she froze up and he pulled away, feeling a more than a little dazed.

She seemed shocked and grabbed Revenge quickly.

'Sorry, it just took me by surprise,' she wrote and he was right there on the same page with her. As she set Revenge down, he thought he saw it glow, when nothing else happened he focused back on Hermione and completely locked everything else out.

"It's okay," he said and he was a bit breathy, "Let's start from here though," he told her leaning her back and hovering above her again. "This time, don't be surprised," he added and she nodded even though he could tell she was nervous. Draco on the other hand was feeling like he couldn't wait to get closer to her for some reason.

* * *

Hermione finally knew what it was to have her socks snogged off. And it was great. Kissing really wasn't that hard and she didn't know why she had never been able to do it before. She copied his moves and then it just came naturally.

She was light headed and dizzy, and all the thoughts in her head where slipping away. When Draco's hand began to inch up her side this time, she didn't flinch. When he cupped her breast, she out right moaned, and even though it was silent, he somehow knew and made and appreciative noise in response.

This was nice, she thought. Not at all like she thought it would be. And nothing like it had been like with Ron. She was always very much _there_ when they had sex. But right now, she was drifting in some abyss and they hadn't even gotten past third base.

* * *

Draco's hand slid south and was down her panties and inside of her before she even had time to protest. She arched up and he wished that she had her voice back so he could hear her moaning. Something about her was suddenly very sexy, but that could be his dick talking, because if he was aware of only one fact, it was that he was not thinking with his brain right now.

But there was something to be said about seeing her this way. Enjoying him openly now, when only moments ago he wasn't sure she was even going to be free of her curse at all.

It was his best case scenario and he realized that he'd better take advantage of it while he could.

He broke their kiss just long enough to get his pants and boxers out of the way before returning to her. He didn't want her euphoria to wear off and for her to come back to her senses.

He settled between her legs and pulled her panties out of the way. He broke the kiss again so he could guide himself in. As soon as he was inside of her she started to freeze up again.

He waited while they both panted, out of breath, until she got the nerve to look at him.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked her. They were already halfway there and to be honest he wasn't going to be the nicest guy in the world to be around if she made him back pedal at this point.

She slowed her breathing and took a few calming breaths before shaking her head.

"Good," he said and captured her mouth with his own again.

All he did for a while was kiss her soundly and when she was breathing heavily again and lost in the moment, he began to move inside her.

Her panting encouraged him and he massaged her with his hand as he moved faster.

He was surprised when her legs came up around his waist and her hands dug into his back.

It wasn't long before she climaxed and he followed right after.

Even though the deed was done he continued to kiss her, bringing her down slowly. When he finally broke the kiss he smiled at the utterly blissful expression on her face.

Her eyes were closed and she had a hilarious grin on her face.

"How was that?" he asked with a laugh and she cracked her eyelids just enough to seem him.

"It was amazing," she said through labored breaths and they both froze at the sound of her voice. For no reason at all, they both broke into laughter. Maybe it was hysterics, but whatever it was, it felt good.

Draco, realizing that he hadn't separated from her yet, rolled off of her and rested beside her. When their strange laughter died out, all that remained was an awkward silence.

"I guess…" Hermione started, "I should go."

Draco felt wrong about kicking her out right away, but honestly, there was no reason for her to stay.

"You could stick around for the night if you want?" he said and couldn't figure out why his words had come out the complete opposite of what he'd been thinking. What was wrong with him?

She didn't say anything for a bit and he starting to feel like a complete idiot, when finally she turned to him and smiled.

"I'd actually, really like that," she said, "If you're not offering just to be nice," she added and he laughed.

"Believe me, if I wanted you gone, you'd know" he said and she laughed too.

"I bet," she replied.

Then as if Draco was possessed, he did something, something that had no reason or explanation. He leaned forward and kissed her.

She stared at him in shock and he felt the same way. He didn't know where that had come from.

"I'm sorry," he said dumbly and she took the opportunity to shut her gaping mouth. She just nodded and then tuned over onto her side, facing away from him.

Draco scrubbed his hand over his face. He picked up his wand from the bedside table and put out the lights.

"Night," he told her.

"Night," she replied with a groggy lilt. She was already knocking out. Draco on the other hand was wide awake and stayed so for the next hour while he tried to fight off this undeniable urge to hold her.

Around two hours later, he had her spooned up against him tightly and they both rested peacefully.

Neither of them stirred when just beside the bed, where Revenge lay discarded from their earlier antics, a bright light engulfed the room before receding back into Revenge's pages.

It wasn't done with them just yet.

**There's more, I promise ^_^ REVIEW PLZ**


	6. False Love and Selfishness

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The Book Called Revenge

Chapter 6

Hermione woke early the next morning to find that Draco was nuzzled close behind her, his face between her shoulder blades. The feel of the covers beneath her and his smooth skin against her, it was intoxicating. She moved her legs against the softness all around her, felt the way each wrinkle in the sheets put small pressures against her body.

And the warmth of Draco behind her was amazing. This was just weird, but also pleasant in many ways. Since the curse, all she'd really been able to feel had been the weather and even that had become somewhat muted in her intangible state. She focused on the way his breath moistened her back and how it was warm when he breathed out and cold as he breathed in.

A shiver went down her spine.

Last night had been… fun, but it had also been necessary. This, on the other hand, was not either of those. She made to pull away, but his grip tightened on her and she remained cradled in his arms.

"Draco," she called loving the sound of her own voice, but he didn't stir. Something about this was making her increasingly uncomfortable. She hadn't pegged him as the cuddling type and somehow she guessed he hadn't meant for this to happen in the night.

She pushed at his arms while calling out to him again and finally he sighed sleepily. He didn't let her go, but he was slowly waking up. She ignored his naked body against her and waited for him to come to his senses.

At last, he rolled onto his back and she jumped up from the bed, more than ready to get back to her own life. She had so much to do today, starting with a shower. She looked down at Draco and he seemed a little dazed, like he wasn't just ready to be woken up. She decided she wouldn't bother him just yet.

* * *

Draco was trying his best to lie still as Hermione moved away from him, but everything in his body buzzed with and urge to be near her. It was an itchy restless feeling clawing under his skin. He wanted to pull her back down to him and he knew without a doubt that these were not his feelings. Something was very wrong, and had been since the kissing lesson last night. The thoughts and feelings he was having were foreign. And most definitely not his. Not that part of of him hadn't enjoyed last too.

* * *

Hermione went to pick up her clothes from the other side of the room and as she made her way toward her fallen garments, a loud thump sounded from behind her. She turned to see that Draco had disappeared.

"Draco?" she called as she moved back toward the bed. Then from beneath it, he emerged looking shell shocked and they both just stared at each other.

Neither of them was able to voice what they both knew was happening. Hermione stepped back from him and watched as he stood half infused with his bed.

"Oh my God," she said in a whisper and he shook his head in absolute disbelief. "I am so sorry," she continued and took another step away from him as if she were afraid he'd attack her.

There was no need though because Draco was still too much in shock to get to the anger part… yet.

Hermione picked up her clothes and threw them on and then picked up his discarded clothes and handed them to him. He wordlessly put them on and little by little he was waking from his shock.

"We'll fix this," she said frantically, and with the way she was freaking out, you'd think she was the one who'd just been double crossed by a book after trying to help someone out.

Yeah, now the anger was starting to kick in.

Hermione quickly grabbed Revenge from the floor and sat at the edge of the bed, immediately scanning the inside of the book's cover. Her eyes moved back and forth and up and down, until she frowned so deep her eyebrows began to connect.

"There's nothing here," she finally said and her voice was a croak.

* * *

Draco calmly sat beside her with a sigh. The book would probably only let him read it now. He took the thing from her hands and searched the page, but nothing happened. He waited for some time just staring at the page, but no magical writing appeared.

As his patience grew thinner and thinner, he fanned through a few pages to discover them also void of explanation. That was it. He snapped, tossing the book across that room and screaming obscenities that no one could hear.

Hermione flinched away from him and suddenly he was calm again and his mind was telling him that he needed to relax or he'd scare her. But what did he care about scaring Hermione, he asked himself. He was outraged, and rightfully so.

He was breathing hard, crossed between wanting to throw a tantrum and fearing that he'd hurt Hermione, which he knew now, was Revenge's doing. It had to be. He remembered last night and how he'd felt so lost in the moment with her. So lost that he hadn't realized what he was doing half the time, and that wasn't like him.

Neither was the way he'd let her stick around or how he kissed her after their business was done. Especially not the way he yearned for her closeness all night. It was maddening that the book could do this. Impossible really, and yet here he was.

Feeling, unmistakably, in love with Hermione Granger.

He stood up, wishing he could throw something else but instead, he turned back to Hermione. She looked completely apologetic with rounded eyes and tears brimming in them, but it wasn't enough.

'Fix it!' he yelled silently and she easily understood what he'd said, even without his voice.

"I don't know how…" she answered in a whisper and even though Revenge was playing tricks with his emotions, he held on tight to his anger and ignored the ache her voice caused in him.

They were going to fix this the way they'd _fixed_ it before, he thought as he pushed her back on the bed.

She was shocked at first, but then understanding his intentions, she began to undress without question. It squeezed at his chest to see her frantically undressing like this before him, but he forced that away, not sure if it was his or Revenge's feelings.

He too began to disrobe and it wasn't long before he was on top of her.

He wanted to think that this strange wanting he had was related to breaking this curse but as he kissed her, he knew that somehow the curse had become second priority to just getting to touch Hermione. He wanted the thought to make him sick, but instead it elated him. There was no need for the kissing and yet he continued, and soon what had started as a plan to undo this curse, turned into a feverish desire to make love to her. To pleasure her.

Focus, he thought, and he grounded himself with his surroundings. Hermione was as nervous as ever beneath him and a little frightened, from what he could tell. He didn't let that stop him though, as he reached between their bodies and placed himself at her entrance, this time single-mindedly, ready to undo whatever Revenge was planning for him.

Suddenly she was pushing away and he fell off of her in surprise. She was breathing hard and there were tears ready to fall down her face.

He hadn't hurt her had he?

He pushed the thought and worry away.

"What if…" she tried to say and a grave look of shame crossed her face. "What if, if we do this, I end up cursed again?" she asked and he could hardly believe her.

After everything he'd done for her, she was only worried about herself. For the first time since he'd woken up, he was clearly able to discern what his feelings were toward Hermione. Although Revenge tried to mask it as pain, he knew, bright as day, that it was hatred.

At this moment, he hated her, and no matter how hard Revenge pushed love for her into him, he swore at that moment that he would never forget the truth.

An old and yet familiar sensation, he let it fill him up and force out the hurt that he knew wasn't his.

Hermione seemed to have just realized what kind of fury she'd unleashed and tried to sooth it down.

"I'm sorry," she said pleadingly as she rose from the bed and retrieved her clothes, "I just can't go back to that. We can find another way," she said as if she were trying to convince _herself_ more than him. He slowly stood from the bed and pegged her with the most hate-filled glare he could muster.

"I'm so sorry," she repeated and it had him clinching his fists. She wasn't sorry. If she were, then she wouldn't be doing this to him. He couldn't even yell at her. There was no way to show her. To make her understand what she was doing to him.

He was even close to raising his hand to her, something he'd never thought he was capable of doing.

"Please," she said handing him his pants, "Please just give me time to figure this out." She pleaded.

He stepped into them because it distracted him from his single thought at the moment. And as horrifying at he admitted it was, he was thinking about rape as a suitable plan of action. It was horrible, yes, but she was such a traitorous bitch. He could easily do it, he thought. It made him sick to his stomach, but what choice was she giving him.

Suddenly though, Revenge's feelings were winning out over his, and his body was hit with fierce surge of regret for even thinking such a thing. It was painful, and he shut his eyes against the burning he felt there.

"I'll come back for you," she said backing away from him and it took a moment to register what she was saying. She was going to leave him like this.

"I'll stop my funeral and then come back," she said and again it was in a tone that made him think that she was trying to convince herself that that was what she was going to do.

She turned for the door and he grabbed her arm so tight that she winced in pain and he knew that his grip would leave a bruise. He couldn't let her leave. If she did, how could he trust her to return and how would he find her if she didn't.

"Ow," she put her hand over his trying to pry his fingers apart and the tighter he held her, the more pain he felt reverberating through his chest. "Let go," she said and as if he were a well-trained dog he obeyed.

They both stared at each other, bewildered by his compliance, but Hermione didn't stick around too long to ponder it. She sent one last pleading look his way before, with a pop, she was gone.

* * *

Hermione landed in her apartment and collapsed onto her dusty couch, gasping through the onslaught of tears that had started.

She was a monster. A complete coward. But more than anything, she was selfish.

Deep down to her core, she was so selfish that it was ripping a hole in her gut. She ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. She didn't want to go back for him, she didn't want to be cursed anymore. What was worse was that she was trying to talk herself into really leaving him that way. Why do what she didn't want to?

Because it was the right thing to do!

She gagged at having to remind herself of something like that. How she'd been sorted into Gryffindor, she didn't know. Maybe the sorting hat hadn't accounted for how horribly she'd end up after living through the war.

She started the shower and peeled off her clothes, making plans to burn them and forget about this whole ordeal. To forget about Revenge… and Draco. She sobbed in her shower feeling guilty about how divine the water felt against her skin and how she was going to take that away from Draco after he'd done so much for her out of the kindness of her heart.

She wouldn't do that. She was going to go back. They were going to find a way that they could both be free, and then she was going to do everything in her power to stay out of his way for as long as they both lived. After all, what better 'thank you' could he ask for right about now, than to never have to see her again after this?

* * *

Draco still stood where he had when she'd disappeared from his room, never to return. Daylight was gone and his legs were killing him, but he couldn't move. He didn't know what to do with himself. Should he go and hunt her down or trust that she would come back after putting an end to her funeral?

He glanced at Revenge, still on the floor, open with its pages bent awkwardly beneath it. Why had it done this to him? He'd been a good guy, and complied without question practically. This is why he should have stayed away from magic. Muggle life was a reap-what-you-sow type deal, but in the wizarding world, anything could happen to you, and for no reason. His life was a testament to that. The only thing he'd done was be born, and from there it was a downhill slope.

But he would get his life back, he decided. And no one was going to stand in his way. He picked Revenge up from the floor and inspected it once more. The pages were still blank, but he figured that when the time came, Revenge would speak up again and until then, he'd keep it close and start his search for Hermione.

He put his hand up to his closed bedroom door and watched as his hand sank through. This was going to take some getting used to. He went down stairs making sure not to rely on the banister for support.

He had to figure out where to start looking for Hermione. Finding Potter was a likely place. That or Weasley. He didn't know where either of them lived, but everyone knew where they worked.

With a pop, he was at the ministry.

He wasn't going to trade his life for hers, even though Revenge was trying to convince him that he was fine with it. He forced himself to remember how she'd run of a few hours ago, but he could tell that the longer this curse continued, the less in control he was going to become, until he was her mindless, lovesick slave. He wasn't going to let that happen.

He hopped on an elevator and was going to have to wait for someone to get off on the auror training floor.

Harry Potter was a trainer now, creating a new class of wizard-kind's protectors. His teams and graduates were the best and he was constantly being reported on in the Prophet for one victory or another. Draco was suddenly glad that he at least kept up with the times.

He remembered seeing Hermione's face on the front page for so many months and thinking nothing of it. Who knew it would be the beginning of his end.

He shook the thought from his head. He was going to get out of this.

* * *

Hermione had spent the whole day debating on if she should find Harry and Ron, or go back to Draco's. What was the point of stopping her funeral and letting her friends know that she was alive, if she may go missing again after trying to free Draco. Why put them through that?

Because you're selfish, she reminded herself.

What if they could help her? Maybe if they all worked together, they could break Revenge's spell. She could gather a team and…

She knew that she was lying to herself. If she couldn't do it, then no one could. She hadn't even started training or finding people for her new branch at the ministry. But maybe she could figure it out if she had more time to study the book and now that she was tangible again, she could use resources that she hadn't had when she was cursed. Yes, she could crack the code like she'd always done before.

But would Draco give her the time? In fact, she'd have to go to him in order to get the book back for study and she somehow knew beyond a doubt that if she hadn't gotten away from him when she had, she'd have ended up hurt. He hadn't been the light hearted nice guy she'd just become reacquainted with. He was a man who was willing to do what it took to get what he wanted.

And rightfully so, she reminded herself.

She needed to find her wand so that she could protect herself from him, if necessary.

With all of this in mind, she couldn't tell Harry or Ron about any of this. If worst came to worst and she went missing again, they'd find Draco and who knew what they'd do to him. She couldn't let that happen. None of this was his fault.

She'd stop her funeral, make up an excuse for her disappearance and then start work on tearing Revenge to shreds and freeing Draco, while simultaneously protecting herself from him. Nothing Hermione couldn't handle.

Hermione took a deep breath to prepare herself. First she needed to go see Harry and find her wand. Then she'd handle Draco.

She decided it would be best if the wizarding world didn't know that she was still alive just yet and so apparated to Harry's house. Ginny was staying at the burrow for Hermione's funeral preparations and to comfort Mrs. Weasley who was taking all of this worse than anyone. The house was quiet and Hermione waited in the living room for Harry to return home from work.

* * *

Draco was still shirtless and felt strange to be surrounded by people and not seen, especially in this work environment and looking the way that he did now.

He hadn't been to the ministry since his final court date and only sent updates to them periodically for his file. It was strange but being inside this place with it's hustle and bustle was refreshingly familiar. He was in the wizarding world again and it felt like home no matter how much he hated the place.

Magic was everywhere and he kind of felt like a muggle discovering all of it for the first time. Or more like reacquainting himself. The elevator had stopped on many floors and he'd seen so many things that he recalled the names of, and old memories of the good things about this place resurfaced.

Draco found Harry within the hour surprisingly, and from the look of it, Hermione hadn't been here yet, but he knew that she would. She was sure to run to Potter first, so he'd shadow him and wait.

It won't be long, he thought, but what would he do with her when he found her? That was a question he wasn't sure about just yet. A lot of that having to do with Revenge. When Draco thought of her, the picture was becoming more and more rose colored. The longer he was away from her, the more he was longing for her. Even his heart was pounding relentlessly in anticipation of getting to see her again. It was disturbing.

He clung to his anger and hatred and replayed her retreat over and over in his head.

Finally, Harry was going home for the night and Draco followed silently as he entered the floo network. He just hoped that he didn't apparate anywhere or Draco would lose him.

Luckily, they were deposited in a small business that sold hats and an old witch at the register waved hello before Harry left through the front door, and headed only a block away in a muggle neighborhood to his home.

* * *

Hermione ran a hole through the carpet while she waited for Harry and when she heard the door being unlocked, she ran to it.

Harry was pulling his key from the door when he looked up. His wand was pulled before she could say a word.

"Don't move," he said and inched toward the light, flipping it on.

When he saw Hermione standing before him, he dropped his wand and without question ran to her, pulling her into a hug.

"Hermione," he said and she laughed as tears ran down her face, "Where have you been?" he said suddenly angry as he pulled away from her.

"Harry," she said with a frown, "You should know better than to drop your wand. What if I'd been an imposter?" she asked and he shook his head.

"No," he said seriously, "there's only one Hermione and I could tell the difference," he said as tears started to blur his eyes, "I'm trained to do that you know," he added and they both let out sobbing laughs.

Hermione's eyes traveled for a movement behind Harry in the doorway and met eyes with Draco. He was just as she'd left him, shirtless and angry. She took a step back and he took two steps forward.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked watching her carefully and then turned back to his doorway, where he looked right through Draco. "Hermione?" he asked again when she didn't answer.

Hermione tried to turn tail, but Draco had her in seconds. He pushed her to the ground and she struggled beneath him.

"Hermione," Harry called, he'd grabbed his wand, but he had no target.

"Please," Hermione said to Draco, "Let me figure this out. I can break the spell if I have time to study the book," she said and he shook his head. They both knew how the spell would be broken and he wasn't going to sit around waiting for her, lest she betray him again.

"What?" Harry asked confused, looking pained that he didn't know what to do.

"Harry I'm fine," she said to calm him, but she wasn't fine. Draco backed her to a wall where there was a table and a coffee mug full of pens. He picked one up and wrote in Revenge. He was sure to keep an arm linked with hers in case she tried to apparate away.

"What the…?" Harry whispered and Hermione realized that he must have seen the pen moving. "Hermione, what's going on?" he asked, and Hermione wanted to tell him but didn't know if it was the right thing to do.

'You can apparate somewhere private, or I'll do this in front of Potter' he wrote and she raised her eyes to him in shock.

"Hermione,' Harry said again but she held a hand up to him.

"Listen to me Harry," she started, "I might not come back-"

"What?" he yelled confused.

"-I'm under a curse and I don't know If I'll see you again," she was tearing up now and she felt Draco's hold on her lightening up. "I have to fix this on my own because I got someone else involved," she said looking up at Draco. His hold released more. Still looking at him she continued talking to Harry, "I just wanted to tell you to stop the funeral. I have to take responsibility for something I messed up and I'm going to give it my all, but I don't want you guys to bury me," she was full on crying now and Draco let her go, taking a step back as if he were in pain.

"What are you saying?" Harry pleaded, his voice breaking and tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked like he was trying very hard to understand.

"I have to go," she said and grabbed Draco quickly, apparating from the room before she was a sloppy mess. She had to leave with as little damage done as she could.

They landed in her apartment and she fell on the floor sobbing again.

It would have been better if she hadn't seen Harry at all. Saying goodbye, telling him that she may never see him again, it was worse than it had been before with him having just come to terms with her disappearance. She shouldn't have gone there.

This wasn't the time for hysterics. She had to do what was right. She put a stop to her hiccups and wiped her face. It was time for her to face the music.

* * *

Draco watched Hermione's body crumple to the ground and god he fought not to hold and comfort her. He let her stay that way, the itch under his skin killing him. After some time, she started to settle, wiping her face of with her hands. She looked pathetic… and he was starting to wane on his earlier decision to take what he needed and leave. He just wished he could tell if it was really him who'd thought it.

She looked up at him and stood.

"Let's do this," she said numbly and his chest almost ripped open, but he still followed her to her room.

She sniffled and her body shook as she started to undress. She kept taking deep breaths to keep from crying and he knew at this very moment that this was going to be impossible. When she reached to drag her panties off, he caught one of her hands and turned her to face him.

His heart was pounding with a mixture of his inability to do what he knew needed to be done, the love he felt for her that he knew wasn't his own, anger at what she'd done, and his more rational side that told him that what he was doing was wrong.

With Harry's pen still clutched in his hand and Hermione staring up at him with blood shot eyes, he wrote what he knew he would come to regret.

'You have a week.'

Hermione stared at the writing in disbelief then up into his eyes and he had to brace his muscles to keep from kissing her. In a week, the curse would surely make him unable to even think for himself he realized.

'Three days' he amended and she nodded frantically.

"Three days," she repeated gratefully, "Then I swear to you, that I'll take the curse back if it comes to it," she said tearing up again and he couldn't hold back anymore.

He put his arms around her and held on to her, which set off a bout of crying that went on for thirty minutes. The longer she stayed in his arms the longer he wanted to keep her there.

He could just gag at the sentiment.

Finally she pulled away and smiled up at him. Warmth spread through every inch of him and he thought about how nice it would be not to fight these feelings… no.

He couldn't start thinking like that; he had a life to get back to.

"Thank you for that," she said carefully, not sure if the words were right. "I'll need to take Revenge," she added and he knew somehow, beyond a doubt, that giving Revenge to her would be mistake so he shook his head. She looked confused.

'I'll be there while you study the book,' he wrote and she nodded agreement.

"You can stay and sleep in the bed," she said thinking of all those nights she'd spent on the floor and couldn't bear to do that to him.

'We should go back to my place' he wrote and she raised an eyebrow. 'I don't want Potter to interrupt,' he added and she nodded. It would cause problems for Harry to show up.

"Can I grab some stuff?" she asked and he nodded.

Ten minutes later, she'd hurriedly packed a trunk of clothes, books, and other things. He felt like she was moving in and again he had that horrible mix of feelings to the thought.

When she was ready, he took her hand and they were back at his secluded house in the middle of the forest, where she had three days to fix their lives and he had three days to fight becoming her slave for the rest of his life.

Hermione on the other hand wasn't so sure that she was being completely honest about her own intentions if she failed to uncover Revenges secrets. Though she wished that she could stop the thought, she was calculating an alternate escape rout for the future and for herself, alone.

**Let me know if you want to use the story lines…or don't if you don't feel like it. But please Review and let me know how you like the story.**


	7. To Break A Curse

**Thanks for the reviews. And to _Lizard_, I'll check that out, thanks.**

_ **Question: **_Let me know what you think of the magic lore in this chapter. Was it believable?

The Book Called Revenge

Chapter 7

Draco waited until Hermione was sound asleep beside him, before he gave in to his urges, and gently pulled her close to him. It was madness the way his once fiery, itchy skin, instantly cooled against hers. She was so soft and she molded to him with perfect symmetry. She was perfect.

_No, she's not, a voice in the back of his head told him. _

But she was, and he couldn't think otherwise. He sighed in bliss against her back and then breathed her in and down his lungs. She was all that he needed.

_Stop it!_

The voice in his head was deep and furious, but he couldn't listen to it. How could he when the proof of how wrong it was, was right next to him. He let his hand, starting in her soft hair, trialing down her slender neck and over her shoulder. Perfect.

_She's a bitch._

He shook his head at the voice. His hand traveled farther, dipping from her ribcage to her waist and up the flare of her hip. They were meant for each other.

_She doesn't even like you._

The voice was trying a different tactic, a new angle, and it was working. Draco knew on some level that his feelings and hers were not the same and it pained him. Why else would he have waited for her to have fallen asleep? But did it matter? He wanted to be with her anyway that he could.

_Wake up! _The voice yelled.

He was wide awake, and with Hermione here, he knew his place. With her.

_She betrayed you, left you to rot!_

She was probably just confused, he told the voice. She'd come back with him after all. She wanted to help him.

_Sure she dose._ The voice laughed sarcastically. _Do you think she'll want to free you when she finds out that you're in love with her and willing to do anything she wants, including staying cursed so she doesn't have to? _

Draco thought about that and as much as he wanted to say that he believed she'd still help him, something told him that the voice was right about this.

_That's right. Once she finds out, you're stuck like this! I don't want to die like this!_

Draco was shocked. Suddenly he realized that this voice in his head was him. And it was right. He couldn't let her find out about these feelings he was harboring for her. She'd use it against him. She'd leave him like this. He couldn't trust her.

_Finally, you idiot!_ He and the voice said together.

Holly shit, he was losing his mind. But the good news was that he was in control of his body again. He slipped away from Hermione and let the burning and craving return to his skin. He rolled around onto his side, away from her and curled into a ball. He didn't know how long fetal position would protect him from her when they were sharing a bed, so he stood up, grabbed Revenge, and headed down stairs. He ended up on the carpet in the living room. Or through it, he supposed. The floor hurt and his body ached for her, but he fell asleep with the knowledge that he hadn't lost himself… yet.

* * *

Hermione woke up and was surprised to see that Draco was nowhere to be found. She stretched and yawned gleefully, having had the best night of sleep she'd experienced since the curse. It was already noon and she needed to get to work on the book.

She went down stars to find Draco and found him in the living room in the spot that she'd slept in on her first day at his house.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked and he sat up with a shrug. He had revenge at his side, but the book had yet to give him a writing utensil, so she assumed he wasn't going to answer. He must have left the one from Harry's upstairs.

She searched around and opened the drawer on the side table near the couch. She found a pen and tested it on her arm before throwing it to him. She sat across from him on the couch and sighed.

"I'm going to get started now and I need some paper and a work space. I don't know how close by you want to stick, in case the book has defenses for decoding," she said and he looked surprised.

'Sounds like you know what you're doing,' he wrote and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I told you that first night, I'd started a new branch down at the ministry for this," she said "I've been studying books and the magic they can hold within them for years," she added and he nodded.

'Well, let's hope you have better luck this time around than you did before.'

She scoffed at that.

"I forgot rule number one last time, but it won't be a problem now," she said.

'What's rule number one,' he wrote.

"Never read the words in the book," she said seriously, "well not before reading the book's file first," she added and when he looked confused she continued. "Reading the book gives it power. You're opening yourself up to it. Like reading an incantation, without words a book holds no power," she said and he rolled his eyes.

'Well Revenge is blank but it's still got plenty of power from the looks of it, don't you think?'

She sighed angrily. He wasn't taking her seriously. He expected her to fail. Well, he was right to be worried.

"Yes, well, the book already had control" she said calmly, "it doesn't need its words anymore."

Draco shrugged and stood up. He waved for her to follow. They went upstairs and into the room that was a study.

'Will this do?'

"Yeah," Hermione answered looking the room up and down, "But if you have any furniture of valuables in here that you don't want destroyed, you better move them now as a precaution," she told him and he shrugged again. She went over to the desk and pulled out paper and pens and cleared everything else from the surface.

"You want to grab an extra chair?" she asked him, "we'll be here for a while," she said and he shrugged again sitting on the floor on the back wall so he could watch. "Okay," she said and took revenge from him. "Let's get started."

* * *

Draco watched for the next few hours as Hermione did _stuff_. Stuff he couldn't comprehend, but that he knew was complex. Revenge was suspended above her in what looked like a glass bubble. She spent a lot of time reading, and flipping through the many books she'd brought with her. She had accumulated quite a stack of notes on the papers she had out.

She looked extremely professional and concentrated, even in the tank top and sweat pants she'd slept in, with her hair in a long, messy braid down her back and his wand tucked behind her ear. She hadn't spoken a word since she'd started but every now and then, she'd grunt or sigh.

Draco watch, somewhat bewitched by every move she made and he didn't know that it had anything to do with Revenge this time. Seeing her in those work clothes had been nice for what it was, but seeing her looking so homely and enrapt in her work was something else.

His chest constricted and he gripped his shirt. Now _that _was Revenge…and right on time to try and add its own embellishments to what he was seeing. It was telling him that she was glorious and beautiful. He knew now that when adjectives such as those were pushed into his mind, that it wasn't him thinking them.

The distance between them, where he sat in the corner against the back wall, had afforded him some comfort, being just close enough to satisfy his need for her and stave off Revenge's attacks. But the longer he stayed in the room with her, the more tempted he was to get closer. It was also difficult to keep his distance when he was so interested in her work and how she conducted it. Still, he knew that he was pushing his luck by staying this close for so long and figured he should leave for a bit to stretch his legs and get Revenge out of his head for a bit.

He stood up and at the sound, Hermione spared him a glance before getting back to her writing. He smiled at her dedication and left to go for a walk through the woods.

* * *

Hermione had finally finished her preliminary study, compiling all of the known factors of the book. Now she just needed to test for them and identify each of them specifically so that she could use counter curses on them.

So far she was sure that Revenge was using a cloaking spell to shroud its victims and she knew that it wasn't a simple one that she'd find in her limited books, so she set that aside for now.

Next she tackled the silencing charm she knew was in the book somewhere. She pulled Draco's wand from behind her ear and cast a spell that she'd perfected only months ago. Perfect timing considering her predicament. The spell would reveal what spells were last used by the object in question. She'd thought of it one day when thinking of how this same spell, only less complicated, was used on wands of suspected death eaters and murderers.

Now though, she was searching for specific spells after laying out a few hypotheses. It was easier to first break whatever spells she was sure were involved, and then try to use the spell to find the other, more unobvious ones, since the spell would only show you one to two of the most recently activated curses.

She used the revealing spell and as she expected, grey smoke and white lightning erupted from the book, but was held at bay by the protective bubble she'd cast around Revenge. As a war continued to rage in the bubble, fighting to strike out, she referred back to her books. She flipped through the pages until she came to a page outlining grey spells. There were drawings detailing the look, consistency and movement of each spell. She found an area that depicted smoky, cloudy, misty or foggy grey spells and found three for silencing.

One of them she ruled out immediately because the plumes of smoke where too thin, and billowed up in curls, like the kind from a cigarette. What she need was thicker, more like cumulous clouds.

Here!

She fingered the one with the puffy of smoke and read the passage.

'_Silencio Encarda: A silencing curse made popular in the early 1800's because of its use in discrete torture tactics. Used to quiet a specific person in voice alone, notwithstanding movement or breath. When the spell is cast, it may resemble a storm extending from the wand. Characteristics of this spell include white luminescent streaks of what may appear to be thunder.'_

Hermione skimmed over the wrist movements and pronunciation, she wasn't planning on using the spell on anyone after all. Instead she continued to the more important area.

'_See counter curse on page 1908.'_

Hermione quickly flipped to the pages and loved this feeling. The moment when you figured things out, and breaking the first part of the curse led to a sense of rightness with the world.

She held up her want and pointed to the ball with Revenge in it, calming the smoke and lightning inside. She studied the counter curse, the movements and color and pronunciation. She had to get this right or she may cause more harm. She'd have to identify and undo her own messed up spell before she could continue and some times, that took longer than finding the original spell. She just hoped that Draco's wand didn't give her any trouble.

After ten minutes of this, she shot a test spell at a wall and when it looked right she felt ready. His wand wasn't making things easy, lacking her usually flawless ability, but it would do.

Taking a deep breath, she stood up and backed away from Revenge. She pointed Draco's wand at the orb and shot the spell. As she thought, the book retaliated, thrashing against its confines and shooting red angry streaks at her with loud booming sounds as proof of how fatal a strike from one of them would be. These were all good signs that she'd just done something right, but she would have to wait until Draco returned with a voice to make sure.

For now, she needed to let the book calm itself down. If she did things right the first time, then she wouldn't have to hit it a second time and it would let its defenses down again. Then she'd hit it with the next counter curse, and she was willing to bet that this book became more and more aggressive as she unlocked more of its secrets.

She'd stay clear of it until then, and take more notes. After this was over, she was going to start categorizing the danger levels of these books, and she needed to make a scale to go by, for when she would train new recruits.

Hermione carefully grabbed her notes, avoiding the orb as she did and headed down stairs to wait and concentrate. She meant to think about Revenge, but for some reason, she was thinking of Draco. She was slowly realizing that by the end of all of this, one of them could end up dead, or something like it and she couldn't let Draco die. How would she ever live with herself if he did.

Who knew why Revenge had cursed Draco for helping her? At this point, it wouldn't be a surprise to find out that Revenge could take his life whenever it wanted to. In fact, if they didn't break the spell, it was probably going to. She didn't imagine that Revenge sat around waiting for the seventy or so years it took for its victims to die, and longer still if the person was a Witch or Wizard.

Suddenly she was afraid that she was signing Draco's death warrant and it brought tears to her eyes, but it didn't make her want to trade places. Not yet.

She'd do her best the way she knew how. She was of more use this way. She could save them both.

Hermione wiped away her tears. Revenge wouldn't kill Draco so soon anyway. It had given her close to half a year, so he would be fine for another day or so.

* * *

When Draco got back to the house he smacked face first into the sliding door and fell backward. Hermione got up surprised and ran to the door to check that he was okay.

"Fuck!" he yelled as he held his face and both he and Hermione froze. He looked up at her in shock and she smiled happily, putting out a hand to help him up. He took it on impulse and instantly regretted it as his heart sped up and he found himself smiling in return.

"It, worked!" she said excitedly.

Even when he was standing completely, he didn't release her hand. Or he couldn't release it, it felt too good. Obviously, it hadn't worked because he was still feeling things for her.

"Well," she said, "say something!" she laughed and he almost laughed too. Her happiness was contagious and it sent a warm tingling through him, a strange tickling that begged him to laugh, but he fought the urge and ended up with a close-lipped smile.

"Something," he said and she giggled. The sound was so unexpected that this time he _did_ laugh. If the curse was broken, why was he still feeling this way?

"Good," she started and then pulled her hand from his, "I broke the first curse. It's not much, but it's a start!"

She was so excited that even though he'd lost contact with her, her joy kept him sated.

"So what's next?" he asked and she took his arm and pulled him into the house.

"Okay," she said sitting on the couch and pulling him down beside her, "I've got to tackle the invisibility, but I'm worried that it's going to be more advanced than the resources I have here can help me with," she held up her notes.

"So what will you do about that?" he asked and she sighed unhappily, and Revenge told him he should feel sorry he asked, but he wasn't.

"I guess I'll have to go and get a more advanced book at some point," she said in thought. Then she pointed to her notes, "But that won't have to come until later. For now I'm going to tackle the tangibility in about thirty minutes," she said as if trying to get back on a higher note.

"What's stopping you from doing that now?" he asked curiously.

"The book is throwing a tantrum because I cracked one of its defenses, so it's not safe to work on it right now," she said nonchalantly, like it was to be expected, and he had a hard time understanding it.

"So what will you do until then?" he asked and she picked up her pen.

"Report my findings and identify the spell that Revenge was just trying to tear me apart with," she laughed as if it were a mundane occurrence.

Draco was pretty sure that right now he was enjoying her company. He, the _real_ him, that is, was interested in the way she talked about her work.

"Explain this to me," he told her and she looked stunned.

"Explain what?" she asked confused.

"How this all works and how you figured out how to break one part of the curse, and why can't you stop the whole thing all at once?" Draco asked and the look of surprise she shot him made him realize how intrigued he was with all of this. It was a little embarrassing that his curiosity was so piqued, but they'd already shared a whole lot of embarrassment together, what was a little more?

"Well," she said in thought, trying to find a good way to start. "I can't break the curse all at once because it's not one curse that's affecting you," she said and then paused to check that he was with her. "There are multiple things that were put together and I have to figure each one out and handle them one at a time," she explained and he nodded.

"So how do you identify what curses have been used?" he asked and took the top page of her notes as she handed it to him.

"Well it's more of a guessing game at first really," she started, "I take what it know; Invisibility, silence, and intangibility to start with. Then I identify what spell was used to cause each one of the symptoms using a lexicon of common curses." Her apprehension was gone and she talked excitedly about the process. "Once you find the spell, you find the counter curse!"

This was interesting magic, Draco thought. If he hadn't forsaken the wizarding world, he might have even liked to give it a try.

"Right," he said thinking about what she'd just said, "So what happens when you can't figure out the obvious stuff?" he asked thinking about the love spell that had been magic-ed into Revenge's pages, that he was keeping a secret from her.

"Well, then things become tricky," she said with another sigh, "at that point I'll be able to force the book to reveal what spells it last used, but it will only show me colors and characteristics, not a name. So going through a lexicon to identify it, when I don't know what the spell is for, or what it does, will take some time," she explained and Draco felt his shoulders slouch.

He was going to have to tell her the truth, or he may be hindering her from breaking the spell.

From the kitchen, the phone rang and they both turned toward it.

"You want to get that?" she asked and he shook his head. It was probably his job calling to find out why he hadn't showed. He couldn't deal with that right now. When the ringing finally stopped they sat in the silence.

She watched him like she had something to say, so he gave her time to put her thoughts into words. When it looked like she wasn't going to get it out, he raised his brows at her.

"What?" he asked with a coaxing tone and she turned away.

"Never mind," she said shaking her head and he frowned, "I'm going to check on Revenge, see if it's calmed down any," she said and headed for the stairs.

Speaking of Revenge, he thought as his body forced him to follow her when she'd gotten too far from him.

* * *

Hermione had a vision of Draco's friends calling his phone and getting no answer. She could see them visiting his house to find he'd disappeared and Draco watching, invisible and unable to tell them that he was there and that he was still alive. She needed to get back to this curse breaking and make sure he never had to do that.

Her conscious was eating a hole in her right now and her resolve to save Draco was clearer than ever.

* * *

When, they got to the room, Revenge was still having a fit and Draco watched with interest as it lashed out, unable to harm anyone from inside its glass prison.

"So I guess you won't be getting back to work yet?" he asked and she shrugged.

"I guess not,' she said and her disappointment was thick.

Suddenly he wanted to make her feel better.

"Don't worry about it," he said and she looked up at him as he continued, "why don't you show me the lexicon and maybe I can help you figure out what it's trying to kill us with right now," he added and Hermione graced him with a half smile.

"Are you really interested?" she asked and he ran a hand through his hair meekly.

"Actually, yeah, I am," he said truthfully and she smiled at that.

She picked up the book and they headed back down stairs.

As they settled on the floor on the fur rug with the book between them, Draco was becoming concerned. He wasn't sure if the one who'd wanted to comfort Hermione had been him or Revenge, but either way, it had felt natural. Was he becoming one with Revenge? He answered his own question when he noticed Hermione shiver and turned on the switch for the fire place. It was becoming second nature.

"Thanks," she said and he shrugged to mask his happiness that she'd notice the small gesture.

As they sat together he felt that pull again, but this time it wasn't so urgent and he didn't fight it so hard. It _was_ becoming one with him, and he couldn't even tell if he was upset with that or not.

* * *

Hermione spent the next few hours searching for the red spell that Revenge was shooting around. She'd been up to check if Revenge had stopped several times, but the book was showing no signs of slowing and she and Draco had only narrowed the spells down to thirty possibilities just by color and consistency matching only. Without knowing what the spell did, it was going to be a guessing game from here. Still, it was becoming more and more evident that if she was ever going continue her work on Revenge, they'd have to find out what it was trying to curse her with and get a counter curse to combat it.

"Fuck," Draco swore, "they all look the same now," he stated, obviously vexed and for some reason it cheered her up that he shared her sentiments.

"I know," she agreed.

"So what do we do?" he asked and she smiled at him.

"I guess we wait," she answered, "if I use any of the wrong steps in this process, it'll just make things worse," she explained and he growled in frustration. "But I did just realize something useful," she added and he gave her his full attention, "there's blood magic being used here," she said happily.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" he asked and she laughed.

"It's a horrible thing," she told him.

"So why all the smiling?" he asked, obviously amused by her.

"Because, it gets me one step closer to solving this puzzle and protecting myself along the way," she said and when he looked as if she should explain, she continued. "Blood magic is used in paintings to preserve the memory of the person, or persons being depicted right?" she asked him, more to make sure that he knew what she was saying, than to justify her statement.

"Okay…" he said.

"Right," she continued, "so different kinds of blood magic sort of give cognitive reasoning to inanimate objects."

"What, like _The Monster Book of Monsters_?" he asked and she was thrilled to know that he was keeping up.

"Exactly, only that's a weaker version of what's going on here. Like child's play in comparison really," she said, "Now that I know this, I can assume that the book is aware and will change its strategies as it sees fit to protect itself, which it why it's still going crazy upstairs, whereas normally a book would have been on a sort of timer," She was practically bursting at the seams with excitement.

Draco looked confused.

"So you're saying that Revenge knows what it's doing?" he asked and she nodded.

"It most certainly does," she said, with a proud smile, "well to the extent of the blood donor's intent anyway."

"Wow," he sighed.

"I know right!" she said excitedly, "If this book wasn't trying to kill us, this would be an amazing find for studying. I mean, I don't think anyone could have imagined blood magic being used to this extent!"

* * *

Draco just watched as she rolled onto her back and the fire revealed her pink tinged cheeks. He smiled at how happy she was getting over a book that was sure to bring about one of their deaths.

Without warning he was kissing her and for once he didn't disagree with Revenge when it told him that this felt amazing…or was that him who was thinking that? Either way, he was kissing her and he felt like it was what _he_ wanted to do.

She squeaked in surprise, but didn't stop him. Even so, he pulled away with a laugh and moved away from her. That he wasn't sure if he or Revenge had kissed her was probably a bad sign.

"What the…" she was breathing hard and her face was flushed and it made him want to do it again. "What was that for?" she asked and he shrugged.

She put a hand over her heart as if to slow it, and he knew the feeling.

"You don't know?" she asked incredulously and he shrugged again, not trusting his voice to sound indifferent.

Now she looked positively livid and it just made her all the more endearing. He stood up with a yawn and stretched.

"It's getting late," he said unable to hide his amusement, "We should check on Revenge one more time, eat some dinner and head to bed," he said and started for the doorway as she sat there shocked.

* * *

Hermione sat through dinner silently fuming. What was with him? Who just kisses someone out of the blue like that? The first time that it happened, she assumed he'd been caught in the moment of their little curse breaking afterglow. But there was no excuse for it now and it was driving her crazy.

Especially under these circumstances.

Hermione sat with him in the kitchen as he finished his food and when he was done she only waited long enough for him to deposit his plate in the sink before leaving him and heading up stairs.

She could swear she heard him chuckle before she'd made it out of the room.

* * *

Draco was feeling amazing. The itch for her was still there, but it was a soft hum under the surface. Seeing her face locked in that angry and confused expression was very satisfying and it had calmed his need by kissing her.

Maybe if he gave in every once and a while, he'd be fine. He also needed to keep his mind busy with other things. He'd felt like himself again today (for the most part), while getting into this whole book decoding stuff.

He headed upstairs just in time to see Hermione enter the bathroom in a towel and close the door behind her.

His mind and body went haywire at the site. So much for his moment of calm…

He waited for her to emerge and was in pain with need by the time she came out all wet and lovely, in a large shirt and pajama shorts. Now was a truly trying moment for him. Without a word to him, she sat on the bed, combed out her hair, braided it down her back and went to bed.

Draco tried to calm down; all he needed to do was to get closer to her and keep his mind intact. He slid in bed beside her and hoped that it would be enough, but the aching only got worse. God, his heart was going to pound right out of his chest.

He must have been breathing like he was having a heart attack, because suddenly Hermione's concerned face was above him.

"Are you okay?" she asked putting her hand over his, which he just noticed was squeezing at his chest.

She was making it worse by being so near.

"I'm fine," he tried to say but his voice was raspy.

"No, you're not!" she said examining him. She put her hand to his forehead, "You're burning up," she sounded frantic and he couldn't understand why.

"It's okay," he tried but she wasn't going to hear.

"It's Revenge isn't it?" she asked and he stayed silent, "What's going on?" she asked pulling his hand away from his chest and examining him, making the burning worse.

"Just stop," he tried to bat her hands away but she wouldn't let him.

"What if you die?" she asked and now tears were clouding her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he asked and she shook her head.

"What if you die because of me? Because I was too afraid to take the curse back?" she asked and his heart constricted even more. She was worried about him?

He pulled her down for a kiss and Hermione cried against his lips. She pulled back nodding. When she started to pull her shorts off, he realized that she'd completely misinterpreted his intentions.

"I won't let you die for me," she whispered more to herself than him and Revenge was telling Draco to make her stop, but the real him knew that he needed to take this chance. But god was it painful.

Draco pulled her down for another kiss and turned her over. Self preservation was going to come first this time he told himself. Revenge was warring with itself on whether or not to take her and have her close intimately, or to stop her because her heart wasn't in it.

But this time Draco was in control and as he entered her, it was a battle that he was fighting to win.

**What did you think about the curse breaking?**


End file.
